Filing a DBA Starts at the Clerk's Counter in Sinton

Say you're a Portland handyman who wants checks made out to "Coastal Bend Repairs" instead of your own name. That's a DBA, an assumed-name filing, and in San Patricio County it goes through the County Clerk's office in Room 124 of the courthouse at 400 W. Sinton Street. Gracie Alaniz-Gonzales runs that counter, open weekdays 8 to 4:30, and there are two forms you'll deal with over a business's life: the Assumed Name Certificate to start one and a Certificate of Abandonment to close it. The desk line is (361) 364-9350 (press 4 for Records), and if you're mailing one in, the fax is (361) 364-9450.

An assumed-name certificate isn't forever, which is what catches people years down the road. Under Chapter 71 it's good for a term of up to ten years, then it goes null and void unless you renew it in the six months before it expires. Plenty of long-running shops let one quietly lapse without ever noticing.

A DBA also isn't a substitute for the rest of the paperwork. It doesn't form an LLC, doesn't open a sales-tax account, doesn't reserve the name as a trademark, and won't cover a city permit if you'll operate inside Sinton, Portland, or Aransas Pass. The filing fee is on the clerk's FY2025 schedule, and all the certificate really does is tell the county, and anyone who looks, who's behind the name on the sign.