License forfeiture

Definition

What happens to the permission to operate the moment the facility changes hands.

Why It Matters

It does not travel. Florida makes the transferee apply for a license of its own and keeps the SELLER responsible and liable for lawful operation and for the welfare of the participants until that license issues, which is an unusual and uncomfortable overlap to negotiate. California is blunter still, forfeiting the license by operation of law when the licensee sells or transfers the facility, with one exception worth structuring around: a transfer of stock in a corporate licensee that is not a majority change of ownership. Read the closure rule beside it, since a center that stops operating owes each participant sixty days of notice.