Au Contraire, pikes. Baltimore agent was professional, lucid, rational, polite, and helpful.

Jack, I'd love to help you, would you please rephrase your original question? Agency laws between agents and clients vary from state to state and one answer will not cover all. The only universal (and that's not even a given) law, is the moral compass each individual has and tries to follow when dealing with non contractual issues (my attorney father taught me to avoid attorneys if at all possible and do the right thing from the get go...). My response was brief but to the point, which you ignored to answer, or expand on.
If you are really sincere in getting your questions answered here, I suggest a response from you that does not belittle any answers from agents, just like the excellent Baltimore agents response to you.

If a buyer has been working with an agent for years, if it were "my" buyer customer/or client, I would have explained to them somewhere along the line what the options are when it came to FSBOs.

I also agree with the poster who said they would have set the buyer free months ago. The only buyer I have ever had for over a year was very demanding timewise (wanted to see things "now", then the husband wanted to see the same thing "on the way home from work", then they both wanted to see it together) and in the end, bought new construction that I had suggested to them a few times, but was told it was in the wrong school district, too close to a main road, drove by there and didn't like the street, there was noplace to walk to.....they ended up "just stopping in to take a look" and bought from someone from the listing office who was doing an open house that day. From that experience i am now dedicated to EBAs after the first showing.

Legally...no obligation (unless you have a contract stating otherwise)

Morally...I would either pay the agent myself or negotiate something had my rea worked so long and so hard on my behalf.

I am a current seller and future buyer. Just my thoughts. Good luck.

~Christina