155. A buyer had an agency relationship with a broker but it has been terminated due to operation of law. Which of the following circumstances could have caused this?
Answer: A
The agency relationship with the broker has been terminated due to the death of either the buyer or the broker.
The termination of the agency relationship can occur automatically by operation of law when either the buyer or the broker has died.
A) The buyer or the broker has died.
This option is correct because the death of either party in an agency relationship leads to the automatic termination of that relationship. It is a legal principle that agency agreements cannot continue if either party is deceased.
B) The sales associate working with the buyer has died.
This option is incorrect because the death of a sales associate does not terminate the agency relationship between the buyer and the broker. The relationship is specifically between the buyer and the broker, not the sales associate.
C) One of the parties cancelled the buyer agency agreement.
This option is incorrect as the cancellation of the buyer agency agreement by one party does not typically fall under "operation of law." Instead, it would be a voluntary termination rather than an automatic consequence of legal principles.
D) The parties mutually agreed to cancel the buyer agency agreement.
This option is incorrect because mutual agreement to cancel the buyer agency agreement is also a voluntary action, not an automatic termination by operation of law. This situation would not cause termination under the specified conditions.
Conclusion
The only circumstance that results in termination of the agency relationship by operation of law is the death of either the buyer or the broker, making option A the definitive correct choice. Other options involve voluntary actions or circumstances that do not meet the criteria for automatic termination under legal principles.