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Collection Of Contract Fees After The Death Of An Agent

The following article is provided by Ryan Earls, CEO of Cover3 Representation LLC.  You can follow Ryan on Twitter at @AskAnNFLAgent.

The recent death of Gary Wichard sparked a round-table discussion between a few agents on Twitter.  The question posed:

“Are contract fees due to the estate of the agent after his/her death for the remaining years of a contract that he/she negotiatied on behalf of the football player?”

Respected former NFL player and NFL Agent Ralph Cindrich believed any fees due to the agent or his/her estate ceased with the NFL Agent’s passing.  Darren Heitner (the owner of this blog) and I, believed the fees are due to the estate and that there is an obligation to pay beyond death for services previously rendered.

Mark Levin of the NFLPA* (* a trade association) confirmed what Darren and I suspected, that the fees are due to the estate for services previously rendered, including the negotiation of contracts with NFL football teams. Services not previously rendered would not be due after the death of the agent. In this scenario, Player X has contractual negotiations in June 2010, enters into a 4 year contract and agent passes away in December 2011. The agent’s estate would be due all contractual negotiation fees (i.e. 3%) for the entire length of the 4-year player contract, assuming he makes the roster the entire 4 years. The player would not be obligated to pay for any other services agreed to, such as tax preparation, assuming that was part of the representation agreement, and the estate of the athlete, presumably would not be obligated to provide such services.

The Standard Representation Agreement (SRA) the NFLPA* previously used (and continues to encourage its agents to use) is still a legal document and binds any argument or dispute to a procedure that “shall be resolved exclusively through the arbitration procedures set forth in Section 5 of the NFLPA Regulations Governing Contract Advisors.”
If the NFLPA is now a trade association and doesn’t currently regulate its agents, who is the governing body? Certainly any state with regulations clearly spelled out, or UAAA state, would be one to possibly handle any dispute within its jurisdiction, but for now this remains unresolved during the labor dispute.

This will be one we keep our eye on in the coming months and years after the death of Gary Wichard.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.