While the first step to establishing a corporation is through drafting the articles of incorporation, one needs to come up with a business name first. You cannot draft an article without the name of the corporation in hand and putting up the name has a few regulations that need the approval of certain regulatory state agencies that govern these name requirements. Whether you are a Chiropractor or a regular businessman who plans to start your own professional chiropractic corporation, our team of corporate attorneys has carefully outlined the important details needed on the first business agenda, which is to come up with a business name that fits the name requirements of a certain professional corporation.   

Namestyle Rules for Chiropractic Business Name in California 

1. Who Regulates the Name Requirements for Professional Chiropractic Corporations in California? 

Like many other medical professional corporations in California, chiropractors who practice their profession through a business are required by law to use business names within the regulations created by the California Corporations Code, Business and Professions Code, the California Code of Regulations and the State Regulatory Agency called the Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The State Regulatory Agency issues the professional license of these Chiropractors. When submitting a business name idea, the state agency and codes will check whether they satisfy the various requirements they have implemented.  

What are the Chiropractic Business Name Requirements in California? 

There are many types of corporations that have varying name requirements. For general stock corporations, they are usually allowed to name their business with anything as long as they are not misleading or resemble another existing business entity. General stock corporations also do not require having a corporate designation indicated such as Inc., Corp., or Limited. 

Professional corporations on the other hand, more specifically, professional chiropractic corporations, have special name requirements that need to be applied for their business name. As mentioned earlier, these are regulated by the state agency and state codes and must be submitted to them so they can check whether the names chosen satisfy their rules. These business name requirements must contain the following: 

• Name or the last name of one or more of the shareholders of the corporation. These may be present or former shareholders of the company.  
• The business name must include the word “chiropractic” 

• It must have wording or abbreviation that indicate its corporate designation such as “corporation”, “corp” or “inc.”   

One good example of a business name is from one of our client’s professional chiropractic businesses called Lopez Chiropractic Inc.  

Can You Opt for a Different Name? 

While it is true that doctors and other professional medical corporations are allowed to obtain a fictitious name for their business through a fictitious name permit, professional chiropractic corporations cannot render the same services of using a fictitious name or a “DBA” (Doing Business As). The Board of Chiropractic Examiners does not provide any process or service to acquire a fictitious name permit. So, it is not an available option for chiropractic businesses and should only stick to the regular name requirements. 

It is important to note that these state regulatory agencies take their rules very strictly and consider any incompliance to them as unprofessional conduct. Although there are still a number of existing professional corporations who do not follow the regulated business name ideas, it is as simple as it does not matter whether other business entities comply to or not, but rather when your company has been caught to be incompliant of the state codes and regulatory agencies, you will be penalized accordingly. So, it is better to be safe and sure rather than always being under the radar for not following simple basic regulations for medical business name ideas.  

What Happens When You Don’t Follow the Name Requirements?  

Just as drivers who do not follow traffic rules are penalized for their traffic violations, business owners who do not follow the name requirements for their professional chiropractic business will be fined accordingly by the state regulatory agencies who mandate them. However, it is still true that there are still chiropractors who run their businesses in California and do not follow the name requirements. And while there are some who are able to get away with it, it is a great risk for the business because they are not completely complying with the business name requirements. And once they get caught, fines will be imposed. Our team of corporate attorneys always tries to stress out the importance of following the name requirements to our clients. We want to make sure we are able to mitigate any risks in putting up businesses.  

Form Your Chiropractic Business Name in California Today!  

Remember, this is only the first step in starting your own professional chiropractic corporation in California. The rest of the legal processes can be very tedious and lengthy. It is important to understand that these processes need to be in the hands of expert corporate attorneys in order to achieve smooth and risk-free transactions. Our team focuses on establishing specific legal services to all kinds of professional corporations including professional chiropractic corporations. We want to make sure your business starts in the right way in order to prevent any future setbacks especially with business name requirements. 

If you are a professional chiropractor who wants to start your own corporation, let our team guide you in building your dream business in California. Give us a call today and we’ll sort out all the details with our expert corporate attorneys!