LLC Name Reservation Requirements in Michigan
At a glance
| Governing law and optional reservation scope | Michigan LLC Act provides optional name reservation by application to administrator; LLC formation is a separate articles filing (§§ 450.4202, 450.4205) |
|---|---|
| Who may apply and for which LLC or series name | Any person may reserve an LLC name; § 450.4205 does not limit applicant to an organizer or list separate foreign-LLC, series, or name-change applications |
| Name availability, designator, distinguishability, and consent | Administrator must find name available; domestic LLC designator required, and domestic/foreign LLC name must distinguish from listed filed and reserved names; no consent exception stated (§§ 450.4204–4205) |
| Application, signer, form, and filing office | Applicant executes and files application with administrator; § 450.4205 states no itemized fields; general filing rule requires delivery with fees and permits prescribed form and electronic delivery (§ 450.4104) |
| Reservation, renewal, transfer, and cancellation fees | $25 application fee; § 450.5101 does not separately list a transfer charge; administrator may charge $50 extra for facsimile or other electronic transmission (§ 450.5101(1)(e), (2)) |
| Term, start date, and statutory exclusive use | Exclusive use for applicant through end of sixth full calendar month following filing month; e.g., September filing expires March 31 (§ 450.4205(1)) |
| Renewal, filing window, and repeat limits | § 450.4205 gives no express renewal, reapplication window, or repeat-reservation limit; expiration formula controls current hold |
| Transfer notice, signer, and transferee details | Original applicant executes and files notice of transfer identifying transferee name/address (§ 450.4205(2)) |
| Cancellation, withdrawal, revocation, and scope of name rights | § 450.4205 states no separate cancellation, withdrawal, or revocation procedure; compliant LLC name creates no substantive use right (§ 450.4204(5)) |
Requirements one by one
Applicant, name, and filing
Mich. Comp. Laws § 450.4205(1) says a person may reserve an LLC name by “executing and filing” an application with the administrator. The administrator must find the name available. Section 450.4204 sets the domestic LLC designator and requires domestic and foreign LLC names to distinguish from specified filed, reserved, registered, and assumed names. The reservation section does not itemize application fields or describe a separate registered-series route. Under § 450.4104, documents filed under the Act go to the administrator with fees, may use accepted electronic delivery, and may have to use a prescribed form. Filing articles of organization is the separate formation step under § 450.4202.
Fee
Section 450.5101(1)(e) charges $25.00 for an application for reservation of name. The fee list does not separately price the transfer notice. Subsection (2) permits an additional $50.00 charge when a document is filed by facsimile or other electronic transmission or the administrator is asked to transmit it that way; the statute uses “may charge,” so this is not a universal extra charge.
Term and transfer
The exclusive reservation expires “at the end of the sixth full calendar month following the month in which the application was filed” (§ 450.4205(1)). For example, an application filed in September runs through March 31: October is the first full following month and March the sixth. The section gives no renewal window or repeat-application procedure. Under § 450.4205(2), the original applicant can transfer the right by executing and filing a notice with the transferee's name and address.
What trips people up
The term is measured by full calendar months following the filing month, rather than six months from the filing day. Section 450.4205 does not state a separate cancellation or revocation process. The name rule in § 450.4204(5) says compliance with the statute does not create substantive rights to use the name; a reservation therefore does not resolve another party's name or mark claim.
Common questions
Does reserving a name form an LLC?
No. Section 450.4202 describes organization through filed articles, while § 450.4205 describes the name reservation application.
Must the transferee sign the notice?
Section 450.4205(2) requires execution by the applicant for whom the name was reserved and the transferee's name and address. It does not require the transferee's signature in that provision.
Statutes and sources
The official Michigan Legislature's current Act 23 text, accessed September 22, 2026, supplies § 450.4104, § 450.4202, § 450.4204, § 450.4205, and § 450.5101. The whole-act publication is marked complete through PA 91 of 2026.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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