What Is a Registered Agent and Do I Actually Need One?

Part of our Corporate & Startup series.

A registered agent is a person or company with a physical address in your state of incorporation who receives legal documents and official notices on your company's behalf. Every state requires one, no exceptions.

The basics

A registered agent's job is narrow but important: they're the official point of contact for service of process (being notified if your company is sued), state correspondence, and certain tax notices. If your company gets sued and the registered agent can't be reached, courts can sometimes let the case proceed without you ever finding out until it's too late.

You have two basic options:

• Act as your own registered agent, if you have a physical street address (not a P.O. box) in the state of incorporation and someone available there during business hours
• Hire a commercial registered agent service, typically a small annual fee, which handles this for you and keeps your personal address off public record

Most founders who incorporate in Delaware but don't live there use a commercial service by default, since you need a physical Delaware address either way.

What actually changes the answer

Whether you should be your own registered agent or pay for a service depends on specifics that vary founder to founder:

• Whether you're incorporating in the state where you actually live and work
• Whether you're planning to register ("foreign qualify") in additional states, each of which may need its own registered agent
• How comfortable you are with your name and address appearing on public state filings
• Whether your business structure or industry makes privacy a bigger concern than usual

These factors interact, and getting them wrong isn't usually a crisis, but it can mean unnecessary cost, an address on public record you'd rather keep private, or a missed legal notice.

Next step

If you're not sure whether to serve as your own agent or which state(s) you'll need coverage in, that's a five-minute question in a consultation, not something worth guessing on. Book a quick call and we'll sort it out before you file anything.