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. The same section starts the clock earlier than most buyers expect, since the transferor must notify the agency in writing at least sixty days before the anticipated date of the change. 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 Florida's closure rule beside it, since a center there that closes voluntarily owes each participant its own sixty days of notice.