The North Carolina Real Estate Commission included in their November 2022 Bulletin, an article regarding Assumed Business Names.

The North Carolina legislature enacted Chapter 66, Article 14A, the “Assumed Business Name Act.”  The point of the changes was to make it easier to register, find and maintain the information of assumed names.

The greatest benefit to business owners is that it streamlined the process of registering the assumed business name in all 100 counties to a single filing.

Certificates filed before 2017 had received a five-year transitional period which is ending December 1, 2022. If your business filed its Assumed Name Certificate before 2017, or if changes have been made to an address, or name of the business, then it needs to be updated.

To give you an example, if you were doing business as “Joe Smith of Smith Realty Group powered by ABC Realty,” then you need to have Smith Realty Group and Smith Realty Group powered by ABC Realty as assumed names.

It is possible for an applicant to register up to five assumed names with a single registration.

To download a compliant black certificate, you can go to your local register of deeds or click here.

For additional information on how, when and why to file an Assumed Business name, go to the North Carolina Secretary of State web site here.

Once the form is filled out, it must be submitted to the Register of Deeds.

To submit the form to the Wake County Register of Deeds, and the cost is $26 to do so.  The form can be mailed to:

Wake County Register of Deeds

Attention: Recording

PO Box 1897

Raleigh, NC 27602

To find the information from your local Register of Deeds in North Carolina, click here and follow the filing instructions.