How to apply for a fictitious name in Florida?

Hey guys, Elliott here, hope you're all OK, have you noticed how fast this year is going? It's almost May, our wallets got hit with Valentine's Day, today taxes are due and now Mother's Day and Graduations, and you're still thinking about making some extra money with a business? What are you waiting for?

Today I'll be talking about how to apply for a fictitious name at Sunbiz.org, the Florida Department of State- Division of Corporations. A fictitious name means any name under which a person transacts business in this state, other than his legal name. Business means any enterprise or venture in which a person sells, buys, exchanges, barters, deals, or represents the dealing in any thing or article of value, or renders services for compensation. Legal name means a person's given name, or an entity that has been properly registered. Examples: trademarks, service marks, corporations, limited partnerships. You don't need to file a fictitious name when you have a corporation, partnership or other legal entity filed.

Called alternately "doing business as," "DBA" or "d/b/a," a fictitious name is a trade name that your business goes by that is easily recognized by the public and does not include your legal name. Fictitious names can be abused and leave your assets vulnerable unless you organize your company as a corporation or limited liability company.

The name to be registered must be advertised at least once in a local newspaper in the county where the principal place of business will be located. The fee to file the application for registration of a fictitious name is $50.00. The fictitious name registration is valid for a period of 5 years and expires on December 31 of the 5th year.

Compared to the expense of creating an entirely new business entity such as a corporation or limited liability company, the fictitious name sets up the alias of your business inexpensively. After it is registered, the fictitious name becomes the legal name of the company and is used in all official paperwork.

You will search that the name you want is available here: http://sunbiz.org/ficinam.html

If it's available, click here: https://efile.sunbiz.org/ficregintro.html and follow the instructions on the Website.

In our coming course "How to Start your Business in Florida" we cover in detail, step by step the process of filling for a Fictitious Name. We also cover how to file for Corporations, LLC and Partnerships. Our course will include pictures explaining the process, that makes it really easy and you will save the hundreds of dollars that Accountants and Lawyers charge you for something you can do yourself. Then, the money you save you can use in other areas that you will need to invest, like equipment, inventory, advertising, etc.

When starting your business it's smart to save anywhere you can and be really careful on unnecessary expenses.

My recommendation is that eventually you file for a corporation, LLC or a partnership in case you have a partner. Why? Because, that way you protect your personal assets, your business and you are two different entities.

Leave comments, comment if you like it, comment if you don't but always comment and ask questions, I love to hear from you.

See you’ll next blog!

Elliott