Maine assumed name filing guide

Maine routes assumed-name filings by legal structure. The Secretary of State’s trade-name guidance says sole proprietors using a trade name and general partnerships must file with the municipal clerk where the business is located. Title 31 supplies the underlying rules: a sole proprietor adopting a business designation other than the proprietor’s own name must deposit a signed and sworn certificate with the city or town clerk before commencing business, and partners beginning a mercantile enterprise must deposit their signed and sworn certificate before commencing business. Formed entities use a different layer. Maine’s official guidance sends corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and limited liability companies that want a different operating name to an assumed-name form filed with the Division of Corporations. The current corporation and LLC forms pages identify ASUM-5 for domestic or foreign entities and list a $125 filing fee. This guide preserves that split instead of implying that every Maine DBA goes to the state. Confirm the entity type and business municipality before selecting an action.

A sole proprietor should begin with the clerk for the city or town where the business will be carried on and ask for that municipality’s current assumed-business-name certificate and submission instructions. Title 31 requires the certificate to be signed and sworn and identifies the information it contains, but the statewide sources reviewed here do not publish a universal local fee, online portal, mailing address, or counter procedure. A general partnership follows the same municipal routing while using the partnership certificate described in section 1. Formed entities should open the applicable Maine Secretary of State forms page, select ASUM-5, complete the current form, print it, and mail it with the proper filing fee as the official page directs. The current list prices the assumed-name filing at $125. The form and authority—not this site—collect the entity and payment details. This guide does not accept names, owner addresses, signatures, credentials, or money, and it does not substitute a state filing for the required municipal certificate.

The reviewed statewide municipal sources do not publish an expiration date, renewal cycle, uniform amendment fee, or universal withdrawal form, so those fields remain bounded as not published rather than being inferred from one town’s practice. A filer should retain the accepted certificate and ask the same municipal clerk how to update or withdraw it when ownership, participants, location, or the operating name changes. For corporations, Maine law expressly allows termination by filing a statement that the corporation no longer intends to transact under the assumed or fictitious name and identifying the name to terminate. The current corporation and LLC forms pages list a termination statement at $20. Neither reviewed ASUM-5 page publishes a periodic renewal interval for this assumed-name filing. Do not confuse it with Maine’s separately listed registration or reservation of name products, which have different fees and lifecycle language. The safe calendar is tied to the actual accepted record and later changes, not an invented annual or five-year deadline.

Identify whether the filer is a sole proprietor, general partnership, LLC, corporation, or another formed entity. Sole proprietors and general partnerships should locate the clerk for the municipality where the business operates, obtain the current sworn certificate, and confirm that clerk’s fee and delivery process before signing. LLCs and corporations should use the relevant Secretary of State forms page, download the current ASUM-5, and follow its printed mailing and payment instructions. Other formed entities should use the Division of Corporations route described in the official trade-name guidance and select the matching entity form. Keep the acceptance record and use the official termination action when the state-filed assumed name is no longer used. No newspaper notice is asserted from the reviewed sources. Paid filing services are neither linked nor recommended.