Fictitious Business Names

How to obtain this service…

  • By mail:
    Complete, download and sign the online application. Mail the completed form and appropriate fees to our office for processing.
  • Online with Credit Card Payment:
    Complete the online application. Once completed, email our office the SST# at FBNFileSubmission@arc.sbcounty.gov. Allow 5-7 business days for our office to review your application. Once your application has been reviewed, you will receive an email from SigniX. This email will prompt you to review the FBN statement and electronically sign your statement before finalization of the filing.

Filings are processed within 5-7 business days from the date you contact the Clerk staff at FBNFileSubmission@arc.sbcounty.gov with your SST#. Duplicate submissions will delay the overall processing time and are not eligible for a refund.

Click Here for New Filings / Renewals
Click Here for Abandonments
Click Here to Withdraw from a Partnership

The County Clerk is responsible for determining the acceptability, not the legal sufficiency of documents presented for filing. Questions regarding the legal sufficiency of any document should be referred to an attorney.

A fictitious business name shall be filed within 40 days of first transacting business. Once registered, it is effective for 5 years. The fictitious business name will need to be re-registered prior to the date of expiration, or if there are changes to the filed statement; except the change of a residence address.

Once the FBN has been filed, the application MUST be published in an adjudicated newspaper one day per week for four (4) consecutive weeks. Publication must start within 30 days of filing the statement with the County Clerk’s office.

Check the Fictitious Business Name index to determine if the selected name is a business name that is the same or is similar to one already on file. Please contact us at (855) REC-CLRK or (855) 732-2575 if you have questions.

For the complete Business and Professions Code, click here.

Additional information available below.

FBN Statement

In the case of a business owned by an individual, a “fictitious business name” is any name that does not include the last name (surname) of the owner, or which implies additional owners (such as “Company,” “and Company,” “and Sons,” “Associates,” etc.)

Examples:

  • “Joyce Smith Catering” is not a Fictitious Business Name.
  • “Smith and Company Catering” is a Fictitious Business Name.

In the case of a corporation, limited liability company or limited partnership, a fictitious business name is any name other than the exact name that is on record with the Secretary of the State’s Office.

California law requires that FBN’s are filed at the County level; there is no State-wide registry or national registry.

Name Publication Requirements

The registrant will publish the statement once a week for four consecutive weeks in a legally adjudicated newspaper of general circulation in the county where the fictitious business name is filed.

The first publication of the statement must appear in the newspaper within 30 days from the filing date or it becomes obsolete and must be refiled again with another filing fee.

If the county has no newspaper of general circulation, it will be published in an adjoining county. If the registrant does not have a place of business in the state, publication will be made in Sacramento County.

An affidavit of publication shall be filed with the County Clerk where the fictitious business name statement was filed within 30 days after the completion of the publication.

For more details see Fictitious Business Name Publication Requirements

Place of Filing

The Fictitious Business Name Statement shall be filed with the clerk of the county in which the registrant has his or her principal place of business in this state or, if the registrant has no place of business in this state, with the Clerk of Sacramento County.

Nothing shall preclude a person from filing a Fictitious Business Name Statement in a county other than where the principal place of business is located, provided the requirements stated above are also met.

Expirations

Unless the statement expires earlier, a Fictitious Business Name Statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk.

Except as provided in BPC17923, a Fictitious Business Name Statement expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to BPC17913, except that a change in the residence address of an individual, general partner, or trustee does not cause the statement to expire.

A fictitious Business Name Statement expires when the registrant files a statement of abandonment of the fictitious business name described in the statement.

Abandonments

Upon ceasing to transact business in this state under a fictitious business name that was filed in the previous five years, a person who has filed a Fictitious Business Name Statement shall file a statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name.

The statement shall be executed in the same manner as a Fictitious Business Name Statement and shall be filed with the county clerk of the county in which the person has filed his or her fictitious business name statement.

The statement shall be published in the same manner as a fictitious business name statement and an affidavit showing its publication shall be filed with the county clerk after the completion of publication.

Withdrawal from Partnership

Any person who is a general partner in a partnership that is or has been regularly transacting business under a fictitious business name may, upon withdrawing as a general partner, file a statement of withdrawal from the partnership operating under a fictitious business name.

The statement shall be executed by the person filing the statement in the same manner as a fictitious business name statement and shall be filed with the county clerk of the county where the partnership filed its Fictitious Business Name Statement.

FBN Fees

FBN Filing: $55

Additional FBN or registrant name: $10

Abandonment of FBN: $55

Statement of Withdrawal from Partnership: $55

Complete Fee Schedule, click here.

Legal Advice Limitation

The office of the Assessor-Recorder-Clerk is prohibited from giving legal advice.

In-person Vital Records requests, Marriage Services and Records Research are available at the San Bernardino Hall of Records location, by appointment. All other services remain available by mail, email and phone.

To book an appointment, call (909) 387-8306