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you start a new LLC and are filing your articles of organization formation documents with the state one of the questions you must answer is who is your registered agent the term registered agent isn't used your state might ask for a resident agent registered office statutory agent or agent for service of process all these names refer to the same thing but the question remains what is a registered agent what do they do do you need to hire one or can you do it yourself watch this video to find out everything you need to know about your LLC's registered agent an LLC or limited liability company is a business structure that treats your organization is a distinct legal entity in addition to professional credibility this distinction is what gives you as an owner the limited liability protection that's the namesake of an LLC because you're a lessee is distinct from you it has requirements for how it must interact with the state government and communicate with representatives of the legal world lawyers and debt collectors for example it's not enough to have a mailing address an LLC must assign the role of receiving mail and other communications to an official registered agent simply put a registered agent is responsible for receiving important legal documents on behalf of your business the registered agent is your LLC's main point of contact and because of this they must have a physical address in the state where you're doing business they will receive papers served in the event of a lawsuit or judgment and it is their responsibility to notify you of state required filings such as annual reports now that you know what a registered agent is how do you decide who you should designate for this role there are two options when choosing your registered agent you can either assign the role to an individual or to a state qualifier corporate agent let's look at the individual option first you designate an individual to be your registered agent you can choose a member of the LLC or a manager of the LLC or actually any individual at all so long as they live in the state the LLC is being formed in this individual it must be said can also be you in the case of a single owner LLC for example that same single owner can also be the registered agent to qualify however you will need to have a physical address in your state appeal box will not suffice an individual registered agents address an individual agent should also be aware that their name and physical street address is a public record and can easily be found by anyone researching the company they should also be aware that they need to be available at all regular business hours to receive mail and official papers which means they must be at the registered physical address from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday the main advantage to being your own registered agent is price the service will cost you 50 to 150 dollars whereas doing it yourself is free let's look at the second option now hiring a corporate registered agent and consider the advantages of a professional service solution if you decide to pay the service fee here's what a professional service offers over doing it yourself 1 is privacy fewer your own registered agent your address will be publicly listed for anyone to see a service allows for greater anonymity and keeps your personal and business mail separate another is availability the registered agent must be available at their location during all regular business hours they must also be located in all states in which the company does business hiring a service allows you to work when and where you'd like a third organization having a professional registered agent helps avoid any legal fees or legal trouble caused by missing or misplacing an important legal document or notice they assist your LLC's compliance with the law so you can stay focused on running and growing your business given the two options we recommend hiring a service the fees are fairly modest and if you value privacy flexibility and organizational assistance it's easily worth the cost when you're running a small business you want to focus as much of your limited resources as possible to growing your business having professional administrative help increasing your flexibility and limiting your exposure to junk mail and other abuses of public information can only help your bottom line now how to start an LLC calm you'll find all the information you need on how to set up a limited liability company from finding the perfect business idea to formation documents and business services not only do we gather all the essential information in one place we also offer other free legal forms and resources for entrepreneurs check out the links in the description below and please give us a like and subscribe if you appreciate our content we're dedicated to providing the most useful information for small business owners we'd love to see your feedback in the comments and what other information you need to help follow your entrepreneurial dreams you
Thanks for your comment Edgar Camilo, have a nice day.
- Evan Shakin, Staff Member
hi everyone i'm attorney aidan durham with 180 law co in colorado and you are watching all up in your business on this episode of all up in your business we're going to talk about registered agents what is a registered agent what does a registered agent do and when you need one but first don't forget to like subscribe and share and check the description for links to additional information and resources i would also like to thank our very special partners for this episode our friends at atomic social atomic social is at the top of their game when it comes to website design and development search engine optimization and social media marketing they are an industry leading firm that has been around for over two years and they've built more than a thousand websites and today atomic social has an amazing offer exclusively for my all-opinion business fam they're building out entire websites a five thousand dollar value for sixty percent off that's only two thousand dollars for a whole brand new website with up to 8 pages this discount offer will only be available for my subscribers so reach out today and book an appointment with them to get started you can check them out at atomicsocial.com or visit this link to book a call today all right so let's talk about registered agents a registered agent is an individual or entity that has been appointed by an llc or a corporation to receive legal documents on behalf of the business for example if an llc is sued then the party doing the suing will have to serve the llc with court documents the registered agent will be the one who accepts service of process on behalf of the llc while the specific laws will vary by state every state requires that llcs and corporations designate a registered agent this applies to the state where your business is formed as well as any other states where you've registered as a foreign entity or you're otherwise authorized to conduct business for the most part the only requirements for the registered agent are if the registered agents individual they must be 18 years of age or older they must consent to being appointed as the registered agent and they must have a physical street address in that state so not a po box so if you have an llc that's formed in colorado you need a registered agent with a physical address in colorado and if the llc is also registered as a foreign entity in california for example then you need a registered agent with a physical address in california as well also this isn't an actual like law or statute in a lot of states but there should be someone physically present at the registered agent address during normal business hours the registered agent can be a member or manager or other person involved in the business or it can be someone outside of the business the registered agent on its own does not have any agency or authority to act on behalf of the business except as it relates to accepting legal documents on its behalf of course but aside from that the registered agent doesn't have any ownership rights doesn't have any voting rights or any other authorization to participate in the business operations so let's say you're a business owner a single member llc operating the business out of your home you can appoint yourself as the llc's registered agent and use your own home address as the registered agent address there's nothing inherently wrong or unlawful with that but sometimes we may not want to be our own registered agents the name and address of the registered agent will be part of public record and available for pretty much anybody to see so if you work from home you may not want your home address to be published to you know the whole world and remember the registered agent's role is to receive legal documents on behalf of the llc that means you know your gossipy nosy neighbor might see you getting served with a lawsuit in your pjs or your teenage son may answer the door and then run in and interrupt your zoom book club meeting or even worse announce it while you're on a call with a potential client or worse than that maybe you go on a vacation for a few weeks leaving the house unattended that could potentially mean that you miss important notices or deadlines because you're not receiving those documents so maybe you don't want to be your own registered agent but maybe your mom lives down the street from you she's retired she doesn't have anything else going on could she be a registered agent sure as long as she consents to it your mom your best friend your boyfriend whoever it is as long as they're 18 or older have a physical address in the state and consent to it any one of them can be the registered agent but usually the better idea is to use a corporate registered agent service registered agent services are business entities that accept legal documents on behalf of llcs and corporations for a fee of course registered agent services they give you peace of mind though so you can focus on running your business you don't have to worry about your nosy neighbors or making sure you're home all the time in case something gets delivered and most registered agent services are national companies that have offices in every state so you can use the same registered agent for every state where your business is registered and help keep things kind of in one spot there are a lot of registered agent services out there the fees are pretty reasonable usually it's going to be like around 100 bucks per year if you do a web search for registered agent services in your state you'll see that you have a lot of options in addition to having a physical office in the state there are a few more things that you should look for if you're comparing registered agent services for example will they help with compliance management many registered agent services will send reminders for annual report filings and other important deadlines and some of them will actually file the annual reports for you so you don't even have to think about it what about their document management how will you get notified when documents are received make sure it's a company that scans all of the documents that they receive for you so you can easily access and view them online what about their availability and customer support can you easily contact someone to answer questions these are all things that you should be looking into in registered agent services but because i'm cool like that i already did the research and i linked to some of my favorite registered agent services in the description when it comes to actually appointing the registered agent this is usually done on the articles of organization for an llc or articles of incorporation for a corporation each state's different some you know require a separate signed consent form for the registered agent something like that and then if you need to change the registered agent later on you'll do that by filing the appropriate form with the secretary of state the name of the form and the fees associated with it are gonna vary by state in colorado for example we would file a statement of change and the filing fee is like 10 or 20 bucks but pro t
Thanks Maissiaty your participation is very much appreciated
- Evan Shakin
About the author
I've studied word usage at Western Oregon University in Monmouth and I am an expert in esotericism. I usually feel irate. My previous job was fire investigator I held this position for 26 years, I love talking about breakdancing and topiary. Huge fan of Colin Farrell I practice short track and collect basketball cards.
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