LLC Name Reservation Requirements in Arkansas

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Applicant and name

Ark. Code § 4-38-113(a) lets a person apply to reserve an available LLC name by giving the Secretary of State the applicant's name and address and the proposed name. Current § 4-38-112(a) requires an LLC designator; § 4-38-112(b) compares the name with filed, registered, and reserved names. Under § 4-38-112(c), a change only in a suffix, article, “and”/“&”, singular, plural or possessive form, or punctuation does not make a different name distinguishable. Section 4-38-112(d) has a consent-and-name-change undertaking route, but the Secretary still decides availability.

Filing, fee, and transfer

The general record rules in § 4-38-203(a)(5) and § 4-38-206(a)(2), (4)–(5), (c), (e) require the applicant or an authorized agent to sign, permit electronic delivery when the Secretary accepts it, require the signer's name and capacity, and allow an agency form without generally making its use mandatory. Ark. Code § 4-38-1104(a)(3)–(4) sets $25 for a paper reservation application or transfer notice; § 4-38-1104(d)(3)–(4) sets $18.50 plus $4 processing for each electronic filing. The Secretary of State's current LLC fee table lists RN-06 and TRN-06 with those totals. Section 4-38-113(b) requires a signed transfer notice stating the new holder's name and address.

What trips people up

Section 4-38-113(a) gives a 120-day exclusive-use period but no precise start-date formula. The current RN-06 application says “with 1 renewal in 120 days”; § 4-38-113 itself supplies no renewal application, window, or repeat limit. Check the Secretary of State's recorded expiration and instructions before relying on a renewal. Foreign LLC name registration under § 4-38-114(a), (c)–(d) is a separate one-year filing with its own renewal rule; it is not the 120-day reservation. The reservation section also states no cancellation or withdrawal procedure.

Common questions

Must an LLC already exist to request a reservation?

No. Section 4-38-113(a) opens the request to “a person.” Formation later requires a separate certificate of organization and a member or manager when it becomes effective under § 4-38-201(a), (d).

Does transferring the reservation begin a fresh 120 days?

Section 4-38-113(b) transfers the existing reservation; it does not say that the period restarts. The Secretary's form says a transfer is effective for the duration of the reservation.

Statutes and sources

Arkansas's enrolled 2021 Act 1041 supplies §§ 4-38-113–114, 4-38-201, 4-38-203, 4-38-206, and 4-38-1104. 2023 Act 256 supplies the amended § 4-38-112 name rules. The Secretary of State's LLC fees page and RN-06 application were also accessed September 23, 2026.