Early Stage Legal: Registered Agent

registered agent

Registered Agents are businesses or individuals that ensure that any legal or important regulatory actions targeted at a business that they represent are communicated to that business. For example, if Company A sues Company B, Company A's lawyers will often send a notice to Company B's registered agent. The registered agent ensures that Company B receives the service of process (the procedure employed to give legal notice). Failure to maintain a registered agent can lead to some negative outcomes, such as fines, penalties, defaultjudgments, and ultimately a revocation of your company's license. Sometimes you can pay fines and penalties to fix the problem after the fact.

Who Can Be a Registered Agent

Different states have different requirements for registered agents. Most states will allow a third-party to act as the registered agent for a company registered in the state. Advantages of a third-party registered agent include:

The company can relocate anywhere and the registered agent will still ensure that important communication reaches the company, even if the company is out of state
Peace of mind knowing that all critical legal and regulatory communications will be forwarded on properly
Help and assistance with ongoing compliance requirements
Registered agents often offer other assistance with legal forms and libraries

How to Designate a Registered Agent

Most states require that you specify a registered agent in your formation documents that are filed with the state. This makes it easy for those seeking legal or regulatory action against your company to find your registered agent's address and thus communicate with the company via its registered agent.