2020 Delaware Code
Title 12 - Decedents' Estates and Fiduciary Relations
Chapter 38. Treatment of Delaware Statutory Trusts
Subchapter I. Domestic Statutory Trusts
§ 3814 Use of names regulated.
(a) The name of each statutory trust as set forth in its certificate of trust must be such as to distinguish it upon the records of the office of the Secretary of State from the name of any corporation, partnership, limited partnership, statutory trust, limited liability company, registered series of a limited liability company or registered series of a limited partnership reserved, registered, formed or organized under the laws of this State or qualified to do business or registered as a foreign corporation, foreign partnership, foreign limited partnership, foreign statutory trust or foreign limited liability company in this State; provided, however, that a statutory trust may register under any name which is not such as to distinguish it upon the records of the office of the Secretary of State from the name of any domestic or foreign corporation, partnership, limited partnership, or foreign statutory trust or limited liability company, registered series of a limited liability company or registered series of a limited partnership reserved, registered, formed or organized under the laws of this State with the written consent of the other corporation, partnership, limited partnership, foreign statutory trust, limited liability company, registered series of a limited liability company or registered series of a limited partnership, which written consent shall be filed with the Secretary of State, provided further, that, if on July 31, 2011, a statutory trust is registered (with the consent of another statutory trust) under a name which is not such as to distinguish it upon the records in the office of the Secretary of State from the name on such records of such other domestic statutory trust, it shall not be necessary for any such statutory trust to amend its certificate of trust to comply with this subsection.
(b) The name of each statutory trust as set forth in its certificate of trust may contain the name of a beneficial owner, a trustee or any other person.
(c) The name of each statutory trust, as set forth in its certificate of trust, may contain the following words:
“company,” “association,” “club,” “foundation,” “fund,” “institute,” “society,” “union,” “syndicate,” “limited,” or “trust” (or abbreviations of like import) but shall not contain the word “bank,” or any variation thereof, except for the name of a bank reporting to and under the supervision of the State Bank Commissioner of this State or a subsidiary of a bank or savings association (as those terms are defined in the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, as amended, at 12 U.S.C. § 1813), or a statutory trust regulated under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, 12 U.S.C. § 1841 et seq., or the Home Owners' Loan Act, as amended, 12 U.S.C. § 1461 et seq.; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to prevent the use of the word “bank,” or any variation thereof, in a context clearly not purporting to refer to a banking business or otherwise likely to mislead the public about the nature of the business of the statutory trust or to lead to a pattern and practice of abuse that might cause harm to the interests of the public or the State as determined by the Division of Corporations in the Department of State.(d) The exclusive right to the use of a name may be reserved by:
(1) Any person intending to form a statutory trust and to adopt that name; and
(2) Any statutory trust registered in this State which proposes to change its name.
(e) The reservation of a specified name shall be made by filing with the Secretary of State an application, executed by the applicant, together with a duplicate copy, which may either be a signed or conformed copy, specifying the name to be reserved and the name and address of the applicant. If the Secretary of State finds that the name is available for use by a statutory trust, the Secretary shall reserve the name for the exclusive use of the applicant for a period of 120 days. Once having so reserved a name, the same applicant may again reserve the same name for successive 120-day periods. The right to the exclusive use of a reserved name may be transferred to any other person by filing in the office of the Secretary of State a notice of the transfer, executed by the applicant for whom the name was reserved, together with a duplicate copy, which may be either a signed or conformed copy, specifying the name to be transferred and the name and address of the transferee. The reservation of a specified name may be cancelled by filing with the Secretary of State a notice of cancellation, executed by the applicant or transferee, together with a duplicate copy, which may be either a signed or conformed copy, specifying the name reservation to be cancelled and the name and address of the applicant or transferee. Any duplicate copy filed with the Secretary of State, as required by this subsection, shall be returned by the Secretary of State to the person who filed it or that person's representative with a notation thereon of the action taken with respect to the original copy thereof by the Secretary of State.
(f) Fees as set forth in § 3813 of this title shall be paid at the time of the initial reservation of any name, at the time of the renewal of any such reservation and at the time of the filing of a notice of the transfer or cancellation of any such reservation.
66 Del. Laws, c. 279, § 1; 69 Del. Laws, c. 265, § 9; 70 Del Laws, c. 186,, § 1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 335, § 9; 73 Del. Laws, c. 328, § 15; 73 Del. Laws, c. 329, § 1; 78 Del. Laws, c. 114, § 5; 79 Del. Laws, c. 355, § 6; 81 Del. Laws, c. 352, § 15; 82 Del. Laws, c. 264, § 10;
