DBA's (Doing Business Under an Assumed Name) for sole proprietorships and partnerships are filed in the county clerk's office in accordance with section 130 of the General Business Law. Before filing a business certificate you must:
- search D/B/A records already filed in our office to make certain you are not using a name that has already been filed by someone else. General rule is that your business name should not be " confusing to the general public".
- certain words are excluded from being part of the name of a d/b/a - Exclusions Statement below.
Exclusion Statement
Please Note: When searching our d/b/a and/or corporation records, our records include only d/b/a's filed in Genesee County and corporations headquartered in Genesee County. LLC's and LLP's are only registered on the state level, our office does not have access to these filed. Therefore, your search of our county records will Not Include a search of LLC names, LLP names or corporations headquarted in another county. If you wish a complete search of all LLC's, LLP's and out-of-county corporations, please call the Secretary of State's Search and Index Unit at 1-900-835-2677 or 518-473-2492.
- sign before a duly qualified notary public. Our county clerk's office provides Notary Service free of charge. (If a partnership, all partners must execute before a notary public.
- pay filing fees as follows: new business $25 - amendment $25 - dissolution - $0 all certified copies of business certificates $5 each, uncertified copies $1.30 each
- D/B/A and related forms are available at our office for $1.00:
- Business Certificate - sole proprietorship
- Business Certificate - partners
- Amended Business Certificate - (changes of names, addresses, etc.)
- Dissolution of a Business Certificates