LLC Name Reservation Requirements in Maine
At a glance
| Governing law and optional reservation scope | Optional LLC name hold under 31 M.R.S. § 1509, separate from formation, foreign qualification, or actual assumed/fictitious-name use filing |
|---|---|
| Who may apply and for which LLC or series name | Any person may apply for an LLC name, including an assumed or fictitious name; § 1509 has no organizer, existing-LLC, or series applicant restriction |
| Name availability, designator, distinguishability, and consent | Secretary must find name available; LLC designator subject to stated assumed/registered-name exceptions; distinguishable from listed entities, reservations, and marks, with limited consent/judgment routes (§§ 1508–1509) |
| Application, signer, form, and filing office | Execute and deliver application to Secretary of State's office stating applicant name/address and proposed name; no separate official form specified in § 1509(1) |
| Reservation, renewal, transfer, and cancellation fees | $20 reservation application; $20 transfer notice; later new reservation application $20; § 1680(1) does not list a cancellation fee |
| Term, start date, and statutory exclusive use | Available name reserved for applicant's exclusive use for 120 days; § 1509 gives no separate start formula; ordinary filing effect is filing date/time (§§ 1509(1), 1674(1)) |
| Renewal, filing window, and repeat limits | Reservation may not be renewed; after it expires, same or another applicant may reserve same name; no advance reapplication or uninterrupted hold promised (§ 1509(1)) |
| Transfer notice, signer, and transferee details | Owner executes and delivers signed transfer notice stating transferee name/address to Secretary's office; $20 (§§ 1509(2), 1680(1)) |
| Cancellation, withdrawal, revocation, and scope of name rights | Section 1509 states no applicant cancellation, withdrawal, or agency revocation process; this entity-record hold does not form or qualify an LLC or determine trademark, trade-name, domain, or actual-use rights |
Requirements one by one
Who may apply and which name qualifies
31 M.R.S. § 1509(1) says “A person may reserve the exclusive use of a limited liability company name,” including an assumed or fictitious name. The Secretary of State must find the proposed name available. 31 M.R.S. § 1508 requires an LLC designator subject to its stated assumed-name and foreign registered-name exceptions, and compares the name against listed entity names, assumed and reserved filings, and registered marks. Its consent-with-name-change undertaking and final-judgment routes address specific record conflicts; a live availability decision remains with the Secretary.
Application, fee, and effect
The § 1509(1) application must give the applicant's name and address and the proposed name, be executed, and be delivered to the Secretary of State's office for filing. Under § 1680(1), that filing costs $20. If the name is available, § 1509(1) gives the applicant exclusive use for 120 days. It states no separate starting formula; § 1674(1) ordinarily makes a record effective on the endorsed filing date and time unless a different permitted effective time is specified.
Reapplication and transfer
Section 1509(1) expressly says the reservation “may not be renewed,” but the same or another applicant may reserve the name after expiration. That is a new application subject to the $20 fee, not an automatic extension. Under § 1509(2), the owner may transfer the existing reservation by executing and delivering a signed notice with the transferee's name and address; § 1680(1) sets a separate $20 filing fee.
What trips people up
The reapplication provision does not promise that the name remains held between expiration and a later filing. Section 1509 does not set out a cancellation, withdrawal, or revocation process. The reservation concerns a state entity-name record; an assumed-name statement, foreign qualification, and formation are separate filings, and the hold does not settle trademark, domain, or actual-use disputes.
Common questions
Must the applicant already have an LLC?
No. Section 1509(1) says a “person” may apply and does not require an existing entity or organizer status.
May a different person take over the hold before it expires?
Yes. Section 1509(2) lets the reservation owner transfer it through the signed notice filed with the Secretary of State; the notice names the transferee and gives the transferee's address.
Statutes and sources
The Maine Legislature's current LLC name rules, §§ 1508–1509, filing-effect rule, § 1674, and fee rule, § 1680 supplied the verbatim text above, accessed September 23, 2026.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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