by Arizona LLC attorney Richard Keyt, who has formed 9,000+ AZ LLCs

To change the legal name of an Arizona limited liability company do the following:

1.  Check the Arizona Corporation Commission’s website name availability database to confirm that the desired new LLC name is available.

2.  When checking a desired new LLC name, beware of the ACC’s rules for determining if a name is distinguishable (click on the word “Name” to access the name search feature) from another name in the ACC’s database of existing Arizona entity names and trade names.  If the new name is not “distinguishable,” the ACC will reject the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization.

3.  You may want to check the U.S. Patent and Trademark office database and search to see if your proposed new name might infringe on a registered federal trademark or service mark.  Caution:  Don’t use Coke or Playboy in your name.

4.  Prepare a document called “Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization” that states the LLC amends it Articles of Organization by changing the LLC’s name to the new name.

5.  Determine if the LLC is managed by Members or Managers.  Review the LLC’s Articles of Organization.  The Articles of Organization of the LLC state that management is reserved to the members (member managed) or the managers (manager managed).  If the LLC was formed in the last few years, you can find the Articles of Organization on the ACC’s website.  Look up the name of the LLC and click on the name and then click on the link to the AOO.  If when you are on the LLC’s ACC information page there is no link to the AOO, then the LLC was formed before the ACC started putting the AOO in its website.

6.  Arrange for the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization to be signed by: (i) any member of the LLC if the LLC is member managed, or (ii)  any manager of the LLC if the LLC is manager managed.

7.  Prepare an ACC coversheet.

8.  File the signed Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization and the ACC cover sheet with the Arizona Corporation Commission at: 1300 West Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007.

9.  Pay the ACC filing fee of $25, but I recommend you pay an extra $35 for expedited review of the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization.  If you do not pay the $60 expedited filing fee, the time period for the ACC to review and approve or reject the amendment will be greatly increased.  For more precise information about the ACC’s review times see online processing times report.

10.  When you are notified that the ACC approved the amendment and if the LLC’s place of business is not in Maricopa County or Pima County, you must publish the amendment in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of the LLC’s known place of business in Arizona for three consecutive publications.

11.  Important Note:  For LLCs with a place of business outside Maricopa County and Pima County publication must be completed SIXTY days from the date the ACC processed and approved the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization for filing.

12.  If your LLC had to publish the amendment in a newspaper, then after the newspaper publishes the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization three times, obtain an Affidavit of Publication from the newspaper and file it with the ACC at the address above.  Although Arizona Revised Statues Section 29-3201.G no longer requires filing an Affidavit of Publication with the Arizona Corporation Commission, I recommend that it be done so that the company will always be able to prove that it satisfied the publication requirement.

Arizona LLC Attorney Richard Keyt’s LLC Name Change Service

If you value your time and don’t want to change your LLC’s name yourself, hire us to do it for you.  We will not check for trademark or service mark infringement or advise you or your LLC with respect to whether or not your new LLC name might infringe on a federally registered trademark.  We will perform the above services (other than checking on trademark or service mark infringement) for your LLC to change its name for the following price:

How to Hire Richard Keyt to Change the Name of Your Arizona LLC for $255

To hire me, Arizona LLC attorney Richard Keyt, to prepare the Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Organization to change the name of your Arizona LLC, file the amendment with the Arizona Corporation Commission on an expedited filing basis complete our online Amending Articles of Organization Questionnaire.

If you have any questions about changing the name of your LLC, call me, Richard Keyt at 480-664-7478, my son Arizona LLC attorney Richard C. Keyt at 480-664-7472 or KEYTLaw LLC legal assistant Amanda Duran - 480-664-7846.