Opening a Shop Under a Business Name? File the DBA With the County Clerk

Say a Hewitt handyman wants to work as Brazos Valley Home Repair, or a lawn service uses a name that is not on the owner's license. For a sole proprietor or general partnership, that trade name goes on the public record with the McLennan County Clerk as an assumed name, or DBA.

Since 2019, LLCs and corporations file assumed names with the Texas Secretary of State instead. For county-filed DBAs, the certificate lasts 10 years. It goes void unless renewed in the six months before it expires. The clerk also wants the certificate notarized.

A DBA is a name record, not a business license. Food permits, sales-tax permits, alcohol licenses, sign rules, and zoning rules are separate doors.