Registered Agents

Every small business should have a registered agent other than the owner or primary operator. If you own a business you’re probably familiar with the concept of the Registered Agent. Likely, when you incorporated, you simply listed yourself as the registered agent.

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably familiar with the concept that your business exists as a separate entity from yourself. However, this beneficial legal separation between you and your business only exists if you register your business as a corporate entity because corporate identities, and the protections they provide, are creatures of statute.

Corporate identities are certainly beneficial to the business owner and to society.  They nonetheless create a dichotomy between the interests of the business owner, and a public that needs access to the people responsible for the business. This is where the Registered Agent makes their appearance as the individual designated by the business to connect the business with the public.

The primary reason you should consider an independent Registered Agent is to protect yourself and your personal information. By law and necessity, every registered entity, in this state and most others, is required to provide the name and address of an identifiable individual responsible for receiving information for business.

This contact information is public record and is obtainable by anyone. If you are acting as your own registered agent but your business doesn’t have a physical location or you run your business out of your home, you need to consider what address to provide. If it’s your home, you don’t want your home address available to every upset customer or competitor.

In addition, your Registered Agent should be available over the course of a normal business day in order to provide a stable, predictable way for you to manage and anticipate the information coming through them.

An independent agent is responsible for receiving legal documents on behalf of the business. If your business is sued, the other side will serve notice on the registered agent. Legal papers are obviously serious and demand an accurate, timely response. You may want a professional to handle such matters.

Finally, each year the state requires a yearly filing from the business. An independent registered agent can process that paperwork and perform the filing. Where your business is a corporation, the yearly filing will involve a decent amount of paperwork.

Ultimately, the ideal Registered Agent for your business would be an attorney that works in Business and Corporate Law. An attorney with the appropriate knowledge can assist in avoiding the legal pitfalls inherent in doing business. He or she can guide you through the complex maze of corporate and business laws and ensure that your required corporate paperwork is met because that’s his or her job.

Having an independent Registered Agent frees the business owner from focusing their energies on matters they may not be familiar with or appreciate the significance of.  They are then able to concentrate on the operation of the business they love, while knowing that these matters are well handled.

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