Florida Fictitious Name Laws

Florida law restricts and prohibits your corporation from doing business under any name other than its complete corporate name UNLESS you first comply with the statutory process to register a fictitious name.

You must be certain to observe this restriction when advertising your business, executing documents, and any other activities related to the business of your corporation. Each document that you sign should be in the name of the Corporation. This is also important for assuring that corporate formalities are followed and to take away any argument that a creditor could use to attach your personal assets for liabilities that arise through the activities of your incorporated business.

Our Small Business Package contains the forms and instructions for registering your fictitious name under the laws of the state of Florida.

Florida Statutes state that a fictitious name is "any name under which a person transacts business [in the state of Florida] other that his legal name." The purpose of the fictitious name statute and registration is to give notice to the public that you are doing business under a name that is not your correct legal name. For example, if your corporation name is "Jim's Lawn Care Service, Inc.", you may only legally do business under that full corporate name. You would not be permitted to do business under the name "Jim's Lawn Care" excluding the "Inc." unless you first register that name as a fictitious name.

A fictitious name is commonly known as a "d/b/a" which stands for "doing business as." All "d/b/s names must be registered as fictitious names.

Fictitious names are also separate and distinct from trademarks. Fictitious name registration is only for the purpose of notifying the public that you are doing business under an assumed name. Fictitious name registration alone does not confer trademark protection and does not permit you to stop any other person from using the same assumed name.

For more on trademarks and protecting your name, CLICK HERE.

Our Small Business E-Book contains the forms and instructions for registering your fictitious name under the laws of the state of Florida.