An Anderson County DBA Needs a Notary Before It Gets Recorded

If you're running a lawn business or a roadside stand under a name that isn't your own, that's a DBA, an assumed name, and it doesn't grant you a license or a trademark. It's a public record of who's actually behind the name. The County Clerk records them for $23, but the form has to be notarized first; an unsigned, un-notarized form won't be accepted across the counter.

Where you file depends on what kind of business you are, and a 2019 change to Texas law (HB 3609) drew a clean line. A sole proprietor or general partnership files the assumed name with the county clerk here in Anderson County. A corporation, LLC, or limited partnership skips the courthouse entirely and files with the Texas Secretary of State.

One thing the filing does not do: lock up the name. Recording a DBA doesn't prove you have the exclusive right to use it, and someone else in the next county could be using the same name. You can print the form from the clerk's page or pick one up at the office at 500 N. Church Street in Palestine; recording hours run 8 to noon and 1 to 4.