Dear Folks,
Living through a worldwide pandemic has an impact on
your mental health. In my case, I worry about
unfinished business.
Thinking about that, I realized that I had not
alerted you to the 2017 amendment of the assumed name statute. I want to give
you a heads up about that while I still can.
Assume I’m opening a dental practice and my
accountant wants me to incorporate for tax purposes. The Dental Board requires me to use my personal
name as the corporate name. So, my company would be, “Patrice Walker, DDS(or
DMD),PLLC.”
Later,
I may decide that a snazzier name would attract more patients. Something like “Lizard Lick Family Dentistry”
would be great. If I chose that name, Lizard Lick Family
Dentistry would be my assumed name.
State
law requires anyone doing business under an assumed name to record that name
with the Register of Deeds of the county where the business is physically
located. The 2017 amendment requires any
assumed name registered before December 1, 2017, to be re-registered. Upon receipt of the new registration form,
the Register of Deeds will record it and forward it to the Secretary of State
(SOS). The SOS will document it in the
State’s new computerized listing of all assumed names.
Failure
to re-file your assumed name before December 1, 2022, may cost you the ownership
of your assumed name. If you have spent money promoting that name, you would
want to avoid this problem.
The
law also applies to a dentist who buys Lizard Lick when I retire. If the name was registered before 2017, you need
to re-file it with the Register of Deeds.
The
application form does NOT have to be notarized.
Please
be sure to attend to this unfinished business.
Neither of us is guaranteed a tomorrow – especially during a plague.
Meanwhile,
if you are thinking about the hereinafter and you feel that you might need a
lawyer when you approach the pearly gates, know that I’ll help you out if I’m
up there. If you get there before I do, could someone put in a good word for
me?
Thanks.
Patrice
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