TX DBA filing at State vs County

[Account Closed]

My question is specific to Texas since I assume the answer may differ from state to state. However, I would be interested how other states handle this as well.

I understand that a DBA can be filed at the State level (SOS) or County level. Is there anything preventing someone to file a DBA at the state level and then someone else filing the same assumed name at their local county level?

If not, would this cause a conflict? Which would take precedence, State or County DBA filing, or would both have legal rights to use the name in the local county?

[Chris Martin]

The SOS in NC, and this is common in other states, is responsible for "the examination, custody and maintenance of the legal documents filed by more than 400,000 corporations, limited partnerships and limited liability companies" in an administrative capacity. In other words, the entity is created at the state level. Entity names follow strict requirements per state statute. There cannot be name conflicts at the state level "...distinguishable upon the records of the Secretary of State..." per 55D?21

DBAs, on the other hand, are filed at the county level under a Commerce and Business statute, Business under Assumed Name Regulated. Conflicts, if they exist, would be resolved at the entity level. There are no statue requirements to detect conflicts at the county level (office of the register of deeds) other than for intra-county indexing. Remeber, these are called "ficticious names" for a reason. So start at the state level, then resolve on a per county basis.