Liquor License (ABC) Escrow

Transferring a California liquor license brings a third party into the transaction that most escrows don't have to deal with: the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Whenever a bar, restaurant, or store changes hands along with its license, ABC has to review and approve the transfer, and that review runs on its own schedule, separate from whatever timeline the buyer and seller had in mind.

Our part is coordinating the funds and paperwork around that process. That usually means opening escrow alongside the underlying business or asset sale agreement, making sure the required notices and applications tied to the license transfer are filed, and holding funds through the statutory waiting and protest period that gives the public a chance to object before ABC signs off. Once approval comes through, we handle final signing and disbursement so the license transfer and the business sale close together rather than at odds with each other.

We don't manage the ABC application itself since that's a regulatory process with its own requirements, but we do stay in contact about where things stand so you're not left wondering whether a delay is coming from ABC, from financing, or from something on our end.