LLC Name Reservation Requirements in North Dakota

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Who may request a name and the name test

N.D.C.C. § 10-32.1-12(1) says any person may reserve the exclusive use of an otherwise permitted LLC name. It does not require the requester to be an organizer or already formed LLC and does not list a separate registered-series route. The Secretary must find the name available for that applicant under subsection (2)(a).

Under § 10-32.1-11, an LLC name needs the statutory designator and allowed characters and must be distinguishable in the Secretary's records from specified entities, reserved names, fictitious and trade names, and registered marks. The filed consent or North Dakota judgment route in subsection (3) speaks to using an indistinguishable articles name; it does not itself compel a reservation over someone else's protected name.

Request, fee, term, and renewal

Under § 10-32.1-12(2), the applicant files a request with the Secretary of State along with the fee under § 10-32.1-92. It states no additional request fields, signature rule, or filing medium. If available, the Secretary reserves the name exclusively for the applicant for 12 months. The section does not state a separate start-date formula.

The reservation may be renewed for successive 12-month periods (§ 10-32.1-12(2)(b)); the subsection states no advance window, count cap, or same-applicant condition for renewal. Under § 10-32.1-92(11)-(13), the filing fee is $10 each for an application to reserve, a transfer notice, or a cancellation. It does not separately label a renewal fee; confirm how the office prices a renewal filing.

Transfer and cancellation

By or on behalf of the applicant, a transfer notice may be filed with the Secretary stating the transferee's name and address, with the statutory fee (§ 10-32.1-12(3)). The same actor may file a cancellation notice and fee under subsection (4). The section gives no separate agency revocation route and no express transfer-notice signature formula.

What trips people up

The one-year hold can recur through the statutory renewal route, but the statute gives no protected advance filing window. An applicant should check the office's current record before counting on uninterrupted availability. Section 10-32.1-11(4) expressly preserves unfair-competition, trade-name, trademark, service-mark, and other exclusive-name rights outside this chapter; a state reservation does not decide those disputes or form an LLC.

Common questions

May someone else file the transfer notice for the applicant?

Yes. Section 10-32.1-12(3) says the transfer may be made “by or on behalf of” the applicant. The notice still must give the transferee's name and address and include the § 10-32.1-92 fee.

Is a cancellation free?

No. Section 10-32.1-92(13) expressly charges $10 for filing a cancellation of a reserved name.

Statutes and sources

The official North Dakota Century Code, Chapter 10-32.1 contains the quoted current text of §§ 10-32.1-11, -12, and -92, accessed September 23, 2026. Section 11 supplies the name test and rights boundary; § 12 supplies reservation, renewal, transfer, and cancellation; § 92 supplies the transaction fees.