Be Your Own Registered Agent › Trade-offs

The trade-offs of being your own registered agent

The law lets many owners do it. The cost is not money, it is the four things below. If any of them is a problem, a service such as Mainstay Filing at $149 a year is the alternative.

1. Your address becomes public. The agent’s street address is on the state’s filing. For a home-based business that is your home.
2. You must be there. Statutes ask for an address where papers can be handed over; several states name business hours. If nobody can accept the papers, the state’s remedy is its own, so check it.
3. Papers arrive in person. Service of process is a person handing you documents.
4. Moving costs a filing. Changing the agent costs $0 to $100 depending on the state.

Three more limits are worth knowing. 20 states say the LLC itself cannot be its own agent. A mailbox, virtual office or answering service alone does not meet the address rule in states that say so. And if you have no address in the state, you will need an agent who does.