LLC Name Reservation Requirements in West Virginia

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Applicant and available name

W. Va. Code § 31B-1-106(a) says “A person may reserve the exclusive use” of an LLC name, expressly including a fictitious name for a foreign company whose own name is unavailable. It requires the Secretary of State to find the proposed name available. The subsection does not require an existing company or list a separate protected-series application. W. Va. Code § 31B-1-105 supplies the LLC designators and the record-distinguishability list. Its consent/undertaking, final-judgment, and specified transaction exceptions speak to use of a conflicting LLC name; they do not replace the reservation statute's availability finding.

Application, fee, and start

Section 31B-1-106(a) calls for an application filed with the Secretary of State that sets out the applicant's name and address and the proposed name. It does not itself prescribe an application signature or form. For a record filed by or for an existing LLC, W. Va. Code § 31B-2-205 gives signer rules by management form, and § 31B-2-206 permits the Secretary's filing medium and electronic delivery when allowed. The accepted record ordinarily takes effect at filing or a stated time that day under § 31B-2-206(c). W. Va. Code § 59-1-2(a)(4) charges $15 for receiving, filing, and preserving a name reservation for each 120-day period.

Renewal, repeat limit, and transfer

Section 31B-1-106(a) permits “one additional period of one hundred twenty days.” It then bars another reservation by the same or associated persons “within one calendar year of the expiration of the last reservation period.” The section gives no separate renewal application window. Under § 31B-1-106(b), the reservation owner may transfer the hold by delivering a signed notice stating the transferee's name and address. The section does not say a transfer restarts the 120-day term; § 59-1-2(a)(4) prices each reservation period without separately naming a transfer notice.

What trips people up

W. Va. Code § 31B-1-107 is a different filing: an eligible foreign LLC may register its name and renew that registration for successive years during the stated October-through-December window. Those annual rules do not extend the reservation's one-renewal limit. The complete § 31B-1-106 specifies no applicant cancellation, withdrawal, or agency revocation procedure. An LLC forms through filed articles under § 31B-2-202, not through a name hold.

Common questions

Can the same applicant reserve again immediately after renewing?

No. Section 31B-1-106(a) also covers “associated persons” and imposes a one-calendar-year waiting period after the last reservation period expires. The statute does not define the relationship in this section, so a particular applicant's status requires the filing office and current records.

Is a transfer notice enough to give the transferee a new 120-day hold?

Section 31B-1-106(b) authorizes transfer but does not grant a new term. The original period and any permitted renewal remain the statutory timing framework.

Statutes and sources

The official West Virginia LLC name provisions, accessed September 23, 2026, supply §§ 31B-1-105 to -107 quoted above. The official filing and formation provisions, accessed the same day, supply §§ 31B-2-202 and -205 to -206. The official fee statute supplies § 59-1-2(a)(4).