How to Locate a Registered Agent

A resident agent accepts legal papers on behalf of a company.

Suppose you paid a company upfront to perform work on your home and the company refused to complete the work. You might decide to file a lawsuit against the company to get your money back. If you are suing a company for any reason, you will first need to locate the company's registered agent. A registered agent is the person authorized to accept notification of a lawsuit (known as "service of process") and other official documents for a corporation, limited liability company or other type of company. The registered agent may be an officer or member of the company but can also be a third party such as the company's attorney or secretary.

Instructions

1. Verify the legal name of the company on which you want to serve official documents and the state in which it is registered. You can contact the company directly for this information or find it on paperwork you have received from the company. If you are unsure about the state of registration, you should start with the state in which the company is doing business.

2. Look up the Secretary of State's website for the state in which the company is registered. A list of websites for the Secretaries of State for all 50 states can be found on the State and Local Government on the Net website.

3. Search the applicable Secretary of State's website for a link entitled "Business Search," "Corporate Database" or something similar. You can search corporate records by entering the name of the company or any officer of the company. The on-line records will contain a list of information about the company, including the name and street address of the company's registered agent.

4. Ask the staff at your local courthouse about the procedure for serving legal documents. In some states, the clerk of court will give the documents to a sheriff's deputy, who will serve the registered agent with the papers. In other states, you may need to hire a professional process server to deliver the documents to the registered agent. You can find the names of professional process servers in your local phone book or through a general Internet search. You will pay a fee for the service, which varies depending on your location and the difficulty of finding the registered agent.

Tips & Warnings

• In addition to notification of a lawsuit, a resident agent is also the proper person upon whom to serve an official request for documents (sometimes known as a "subpoena"). You may serve a subpoena if you need documents from a company to use in a lawsuit against someone else. For example, if you had a contract to purchase a house and the seller canceled the contract for no reason, you may decide to sue the seller for breaking the contract. As part of your case against the seller, you may want to get a copy of your real estate broker's file as evidence. You would need to serve an official request for those documents on the real estate company's registered agent.

• If you plan to file a lawsuit, you may wish to contact an attorney first.

References

• "Florida Small Business Practice"; The Florida Bar; 2004
• "Corporate Governance"; John L. Colley; 2003
• State and Local Government on the Net: Secretary of State