Can I sell my store after a SNAP disqualification?
7 CFR 278.6(b)(1)
We owe loyalty to only you.
When you’re looking online, you have multiple options. There are so many firms advertising SNAP defense. Thankfully, your search is over. Spodek Law Group P.C. offers premier white-glove service and we’re unafraid of fighting. Unlike firms that are more focused on their relationship with the agency than with you, we owe loyalty to only YOU. Your store, your family, your license.
One reason our firm has such a high success rate is that we’re selective about who we work with. If we’re choosing to work with you, it’s because we think we can make a positive impact. That’s vastly different from firms that take on any client willing to pay. When you reach out, you start with a risk-free consultation - and you can ask us anything you want, regardless of how long it takes.
If there’s a way to keep your store in the program, we’ll find it. That’s the whole job.
This is the most common instinct after a determination letter and one of the most expensive. Selling the business, or moving it into a relative’s name, looks like a way to keep the doors open. The regulation anticipated it.
The transfer penalty
7 CFR 278.6(g) imposes a civil money penalty on a firm that transfers ownership of a store after a disqualification has been imposed, calculated from redemption figures - and where the disqualification was permanent, the amount is doubled. The liability attaches regardless of how the sale is papered.
The new application will be screened
FNS reviews authorization applications for business integrity, and it looks at the people behind the applicant. Where a principal is connected to a disqualified firm, or where the arrangement looks like the sanctioned owner continuing to run the store through someone else, the application is likely to be denied. The paper trail then becomes evidence.
What to do instead
Fix the underlying case. There’s far more room in a timely response, in administrative review where new evidence is allowed, and in a de novo action under 7 U.S.C. 2023 than in any restructuring. If a sale is genuinely necessary for reasons unrelated to the sanction, get advice on the 278.6(g) exposure before signing anything.
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