Georgia § 10-1-679 - 9. Requirement for dealers' opportunity to designate successors; requirement to honor succession; grounds for objection to succession.

§ 10-1-679. 9. Requirement for dealers' opportunity to designate successors; requirement to honor succession; grounds for objection to succession.

It shall be unlawful for any grantor to fail to provide a recreational vehicle dealer with an opportunity, at the time of signing a recreational vehicle dealership franchise agreement or at a reasonable time thereafter, to designate a member of his or her family as a successor to the dealership in the event of the death, incapacity, or retirement of the dealer. A dealer may from time to time during the term of the franchise agreement change the beneficiary by providing a written notification to the manufacturer. It shall be unlawful to prevent or refuse to honor the succession to a dealership by a family member of the deceased, incapacitated, or retired dealer unless the grantor has provided to the family member so designated written notice of its objections. The burden of proving that such transfer is not reasonable shall be on the grantor. Grounds for objection shall be lack of creditworthiness, conviction of a felony, inability to obtain necessary and required licenses by the beneficiary, lack of required licenses, or other conditions which make such succession unreasonable under the circumstances, but the grantor shall bear the burden of proving the unreasonableness of such succession. No family member of the deceased, incapacitated, or retired dealer may succeed to a recreational vehicle dealership unless the succession to the recreational vehicle dealership will not involve, without the grantor's consent, a relocation of the business. (Code 1981, § 10-1-679.9 , enacted by Ga. L. 2005, p. 1233, § 2/SB 155.)