Legal Registered Agent

A registered agent, also known as a resident agent or statutory agent in United States business law, is a business or individual designated to receive service of process (SOP) when a business entity is a party in a legal action such as a lawsuit or summons.The registered agent's address may also be where the state will send the paperwork for the yearly renewal of the business entity's charter. The registered agent for a business entity may be an individual member of the company, or (more often) a third party, such as the organization's lawyer or a service company. Failure to properly maintain a registered agent can affect a company negatively.

Legal Definition of Registered Agent

A Registered Agent is the legal representative responsible for accepting Service of Process (Lawsuits) on behalf of the business entity within the dominion of any State were the company transact business. Service of process is the procedure employed to give legal notice to a company (defendant) of a court or administrative body's exercise of its jurisdiction over that company so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal. Usually, notice is furnished by delivering a set of court documents (called "process") to the company to be served. A Registered Agent will also accept on behalf of the company annual reports and other similar compliance type filings from the Secretary of State.