The Maine professional LLC
What creates it in Maine
31 M.R.S. § 1560 (Nature of professional limited liability company business), with the definition at 13 M.R.S. § 723(5): "'Professional limited liability company' means a limited liability company formed to perform a professional service." Section 1560 makes the company subject to the Maine Professional Service Corporation Act with listed exceptions.
What the name must contain
There is no professional designation in a Maine PLLC name, and this is the trap. 31 M.R.S. § 1560(1) expressly disapplies 13 M.R.S. § 736, the professional corporation name section, so a Maine PLLC's name follows the ordinary limited liability company rule at 31 M.R.S. § 1508(1): it must contain the words "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviation "L.L.C.", "LLC", "L.C." or "LC". Section 1508(1) also allows the designations "Limited Liability Company, Chartered", "Limited Liability Company, Professional Association" and "Limited Liability Company, P.A.", and a company using any of those may also use "L.L.C." or "LLC" without filing an assumed name. Maine does not require the letters PLLC.
Which occupations Maine says must use it
Two tiers, one mandatory and one optional, both keyed to 13 M.R.S. § 723(7). Paragraph A enumerates accountants, advanced practice registered nurses, attorneys, chiropractors, dentists, optometrists, osteopathic physicians, physicians and surgeons, physician associates, podiatrists, registered nurses and veterinarians. Paragraph B is a catch-all: any other person required by state law to hold a license as a precondition to engaging in that person's profession. Under § 731(1) a qualified person performing a paragraph A service who wants a corporation "shall incorporate as a professional corporation"; under § 731(2) a person performing a paragraph B service "may" do so. Under 13 M.R.S. § 734(1) the corporation may render professional services in Maine only through individuals licensed or otherwise authorized in Maine to render them.
Maine also offers a corporation under a professional statute
A practice choosing between the two forms is choosing between these rules and the ones above.
What creates it in Maine
13 M.R.S. ch. 22-A, the Maine Professional Service Corporation Act (13 M.R.S. §§ 721 to 772). Formation is by articles of incorporation delivered to the Secretary of State stating that the corporation is a professional corporation and that its purpose is to render the specified professional service (13 M.R.S. § 731(3)).
What the name must contain
13 M.R.S. § 736(1). In addition to satisfying 13-C M.R.S. §§ 401 and 1506, the name must contain the words "chartered", "professional corporation", "professional association" or "service corporation" or the abbreviation "P.C.", "P.A." or "S.C."; may not contain language stating or implying a purpose other than the one authorised by § 732 and the articles; and must conform with any rule adopted by the licensing authority having jurisdiction over a professional service described in the articles.
Does the agent requirement differ from an ordinary Maine LLC’s?
No. Maine sets no separate agent requirement for a professional entity — it is the same requirement an ordinary Maine LLC files under.
The professional form changes nothing about the agent. 31 M.R.S. § 1560(1) lists the professional corporation sections that do not apply to a PLLC and the agent provisions are not among them, so a Maine PLLC appoints a registered agent, commercial or noncommercial, under 5 M.R.S. §§ 101 to 115 exactly as any Maine limited liability company does. A Maine professional corporation appoints a clerk, but that is because every Maine business corporation appoints a clerk under 13-C M.R.S., not because it is professional.
What else Maine requires
Maine builds its professional limited liability company by reference rather than by a separate act: 31 M.R.S. § 1560 points at the Professional Service Corporation Act and then carves out the parts that do not fit, reading shareholders as members and transferees, stock as transferable interests, and officers and directors as whoever holds comparable management authority. The carve-out list matters to anyone naming a company, because the professional corporation name section is one of the disapplied sections. The Division of Corporations publishes no professional-entity form: a Maine PLLC is filed on the same Certificate of Formation (MLLC-6) as any other limited liability company and a Maine professional corporation on the same Articles of Incorporation (MBCA-6) as any other business corporation, with the professional election made in the document's text.
Verified against the Maine Secretary of State, Division of Corporations, UCC and Commissions (www.maine.gov/sos/corporations-commissions/i-need-a-business-form/limited-liability-company-forms) · Statute text: legislature.maine.gov/statutes/31/title31sec1560.html · Last updated September 2026. Maine only — the rules in this cluster differ by jurisdiction, and this page speaks for no other.