LLC Name Reservation Requirements in Kentucky
At a glance
| Governing law and optional reservation scope | Optional LLC name reservation under Kentucky's general entity-name statute, KRS § 14A.3-020; LLC naming tied to § 14A.3-010 by § 275.025(1)(a) |
|---|---|
| Who may apply and for which LLC or series name | Any person; foreign entity need not qualify; includes unavailable-real-name fictitious name (§ 14A.3-020(1), (5)); section states no separate series route |
| Name availability, designator, distinguishability, and consent | Must be distinguishable from any Secretary of State name of record and meet § 14A.3-010; ordinary LLC ends in limited liability company, limited company, LLC, or LC (§§ 14A.3-020(1)–(2), 14A.3-010(3)) |
| Application, signer, form, and filing office | Deliver application to Secretary of State stating applicant's real name/address and proposed name; renewal uses Secretary's form; § 14A.3-020 does not prescribe an original-application signature |
| Reservation, renewal, transfer, and cancellation fees | $15 application or renewal; $15 transfer notice; $10 cancellation (§ 14A.2-060(1)(b)–(d)) |
| Term, start date, and statutory exclusive use | 120-day exclusive-use hold if Secretary finds distinguishability; § 14A.3-020(1) gives no separate initial start-date formula |
| Renewal, filing window, and repeat limits | Holder may apply in final 30 days; renewal starts at current expiry and adds 120 days; § 14A.3-020(1) states no renewal-count limit |
| Transfer notice, signer, and transferee details | Holder transfers by signed notice delivered to Secretary of State with transferee name/address; $15 (§§ 14A.3-020(3), 14A.2-060(1)(d)) |
| Cancellation, withdrawal, revocation, and scope of name rights | Holder may cancel by executed notice stating reserved name and initial reservation date; $10; reservation alone does not automatically prevent others' use (§§ 14A.3-020(4), 14A.2-060(1)(c), 14A.3-010(18)) |
Requirements one by one
Applicant and proposed name
KRS § 14A.3-020(1) begins, “A person may reserve the exclusive use of a name,” and expressly includes a fictitious name when a foreign entity's real name is unavailable. Subsection (5) adds that the foreign entity need not already be qualified in Kentucky. KRS § 275.025(1)(a) connects an LLC's articles to the name rule in § 14A.3-010; § 14A.3-010(1) requires distinguishability and subsection (3) lists the ordinary and professional LLC endings. A reserved name must satisfy that rule under § 14A.3-020(2).
Filing, fee, and renewal
The original application goes to the Secretary of State and states the applicant's real name and address and the proposed name, under KRS § 14A.3-020(1). The section specifies the Secretary's form for renewal, but does not impose that form or a signature in its description of the original application. Under § 14A.2-060(1)(b), either application costs $15. A renewal filed during the final 30 days adds 120 days beginning at the existing reservation's expiration, even if filed earlier in that window.
Transfer and cancellation
KRS § 14A.3-020(3) requires the holder to deliver a signed transfer notice naming the transferee and giving that person's address. Cancellation instead needs a notice executed by the original applicant that states the reserved name and its initial reservation date, under subsection (4). Section 14A.2-060(1)(c)–(d) sets $10 for cancellation and $15 for transfer.
What trips people up
The 120-day exclusivity is a state entity-record hold. KRS § 14A.3-010(18) expressly says a name reservation does not automatically prevent other people from using the name or protect it from their use. The statute also does not give a separate formula for when the initial 120-day count begins, so confirm the Secretary of State's recorded expiration before using the 30-day renewal window.
Common questions
Does a renewal filed before expiration start its new 120 days immediately?
No. KRS § 14A.3-020(1) says the renewal becomes effective at the current reservation's expiration and extends it by another 120 days from that otherwise applicable expiration.
Does transferring the reservation give the transferee a new 120-day period?
Section 14A.3-020(3) transfers the existing reservation by signed notice; it does not state that transfer restarts the term. The transferee should check the recorded expiration date.
Statutes and sources
The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission's current PDFs of KRS § 14A.3-020, § 14A.3-010, § 14A.2-060, and § 275.025 were accessed September 22, 2026. The KRS database reported a September 22, 2026 update that included enactments through the 2026 Regular Session.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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