If your business name in Georgia doesn’t reveal who owns it, you need to register a DBA in Georgia by filing a trade name registration with the Clerk of the Superior Court in your county within 30 days of first using the name. Georgia calls a DBA a “trade name,” and the filing happens at the county level rather than with the Secretary of State.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership
When Registration Is Required
The rule turns on whether the public can tell who owns the business from the name alone. A sole proprietor named Jane Smith operating as “Smith Consulting” doesn’t need to register, because her surname is right there. If she operates as “Apex Consulting,” she must register. The same logic covers general partnerships whose name omits any partner’s surname.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership
Corporations and LLCs face the same test against their legal name on file with the Secretary of State. If “Atlanta Marketing Group, LLC” wants to run a service line as “Peach City Digital,” that second name has to be registered as a trade name.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership
You have 30 days from the date you first use the trade name to complete the filing.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership
A few situations fall outside the requirement entirely. Corporations using their corporate name, limited partnerships using their registered name, LLCs using their filed name, and professionals practicing under a partnership name do not need to file. The requirement only kicks in once you adopt a name different from the one already on record with the state.2FindLaw. Georgia Code 10-1-492 – Exceptions
How to File With the County Clerk
You file a Trade Name Application with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where your business is primarily located. A domestic corporation registering a trade name files in its county of legal domicile instead.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership Application forms vary from county to county, so contact your local Clerk’s office or check its website for the correct version.3Georgia.gov. File for a DBA (Doing Business As)
Expect the application to ask for:
- The exact trade name you plan to use
- A description of the business
- Legal names and addresses of all owners (for a sole proprietorship or partnership), or the entity’s legal name and principal address (for an LLC or corporation)
- Signatures of every owner, notarized
The statute requires the registration statement to be verified by affidavit, which is why the signatures must be notarized.3Georgia.gov. File for a DBA (Doing Business As) Before you file, it’s worth searching the Clerk’s trade name records to see whether someone in your county has already claimed the name. Georgia doesn’t give statewide name exclusivity, but a duplicate in the same county can create confusion.
Publishing Notice in the Newspaper
Filing alone isn’t enough. After submitting the application, you must publish notice in the newspaper your county sheriff uses for legal advertisements. The notice runs once a week for two consecutive weeks and includes the trade name along with the legal names and addresses of the owners.1Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-490 – Required Registration Statement for Business Using Trade, Partnership, or Other Name Not Showing Ownership
The newspaper charges a publication fee that varies with the paper and the length of your notice. After the two weeks run, you’ll receive a Publisher’s Affidavit confirming publication. Keep it. That document is your proof you met the requirement, and banks often ask to see it later.
What It Costs
The state statute sets a base filing fee of $15 through the Clerk of the Superior Court fee schedule.4Justia. Georgia Code 15-6-77 – Fees of Clerks of Superior Courts In practice, individual counties add their own processing and recording charges on top, and the total can run significantly higher. Fulton County, for example, charges $175 to record a trade name, an amendment, or a cancellation.5Fulton County Superior Court. Review Fee Schedule Check with your local Clerk before filing. Then budget separately for the newspaper publication fee.
What Happens If You Don’t Register
You’ll find a lot of bad information online claiming that an unregistered business can’t sue in Georgia. The statute says the opposite. No lawsuit, whether in contract or tort, can be dismissed solely because the business failed to register its trade name, and your contracts remain valid.6Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-491 – Effect of Failing to Register on Contracts
What the statute does impose is a financial hit. If you file a lawsuit while your trade name is still unregistered, you get stuck paying the court costs of the case, win or lose. In contested litigation that bill climbs fast.6Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-491 – Effect of Failing to Register on Contracts
Operating without a required trade name registration is also a misdemeanor under Georgia law. The statute specifies no penalty beyond the misdemeanor charge and the court-cost consequence, but a criminal record is a steep price for a filing that could have been handled in an afternoon.7Justia. Georgia Code 10-1-493 – Penalty for Failing to Register
What a Trade Name Does Not Do
Registering a trade name is a public disclosure. It is not business formation. A sole proprietor who registers a trade name is still personally liable for all business debts. An LLC that adds a trade name is still the same LLC with the same liability protections it already had.
A county filing also gives you no exclusive rights beyond that county. Another business can register the identical name in a neighboring county and operate legally. Broader protection means trademark registration, not a trade name filing.
Official obligations like taxes and contracts still run through your legal name. When signing a contract under a DBA, the safer practice is to sign with both names, for example “Jane Smith, doing business as Apex Consulting,” so there is no ambiguity about who is bound.
Changing or Canceling the Name Later
Georgia trade names do not expire and require no periodic renewal, which keeps them lower-maintenance than many other state filings. To change the name or update ownership information, file an amended registration with the Clerk and pay the county’s amendment fee.3Georgia.gov. File for a DBA (Doing Business As)
When you stop using a trade name, file a cancellation with the same Clerk’s office where you originally registered. That removes the public record linking you to the name. Cancellation fees vary, and some counties charge the same amount as the original filing.8Fulton County Superior Court. Register a Trade Name/ DBA