How to Select a Registered Agent For Your Business

When you decide to do business in the State of Nevada and want to legally form your company with the Nevada Secretary of State—whether opting for a domestic or foreign qualified corporation or limited liability company—Sage International, Inc. can assist with the required filings and serve as the Nevada registered agent, which must be appointed and retained if you continue to operate within the state.

Your Nevada registered agent is the state’s official point of contact for the business. The state sends important compliance information and official correspondence to your registered agent, who then forwards those documents to the appropriate contact person in your business.

Our primary responsibility as your Nevada registered agent is for receiving notices of litigation (service of process) on behalf of your company. Service of process means that you have been served with a writ, complaint or summons to appear in court, so it’s imperative that these documents be received in a timely manner.

The selection of your Nevada registered agent is an important decision and should be based on the following factors:

  • Stability of the company.
  • Established, regular office hours.
  • Familiar with the procedure of receiving Legal service of process.
  • Ability to maintain required statutory records.
  • Knows what they are doing since they will be acting for you, and their actions have a binding influence on your domestic or foreign qualified Nevada Corporation or Nevada Limited Liability Company.
  • Keeps all information completely confidential.

While you can serve as your own registered agent, there are several reasons to use a commercial registered agent, like Sage International, Inc. that specializes in acting as a registered agent.

The first relates to the fact that the name and address of the registered agent are included in the articles filed with the state, which makes this information part of the public record.  Many business owners do not want to have their personal name and address publicly accessible.  By using a commercial registered agent, you now have their name and address in the public record instead of yours. Also, you may be out of the office when key legal documents requiring immediate action might be delivered. If you are not there to respond promptly to a notice of litigation, for example, you could get a default judgment against you for failing to answer a claim in a timely manner.

Second, individuals have the tendency to move offices, switch employers, be transferred to another state, retire etc. If the records are not updated with the state before process is served, the company may not receive notice of litigation. And because you are required to notify the state anytime you make a change regarding the status of your registered agent or registered agent address which often incurs additional state filing fees, you may find it more convenient to use a commercial registered agent as the point of contact since their address rarely changes and you can be certain that your important documents will get to you promptly.

The third reason is the embarrassment of having a process server show up in front of your customers, employees, or even your neighbors depending on what address you used. This can totally disrupt your business. Plus, the potential for mishandling the process documents. Most people have no idea what to do with the paperwork that’s just been served on them especially if it’s one of your employees that just happened to be standing in the reception area and a process server shows up, all they’re required to do is hand them the documents and get a quick signature. Are they trained or have any idea what should happen next?

Don’t risk late fees and penalties, or worse yet a default judgment simply because your company could not be served and failed to respond to a court order in the time prescribed by the law. If you prefer reliability, competency, experience and confidentiality then let Sage International, Inc. become the critical conduit for managing ongoing legal requirements associated with your company.

To learn more please visit www.sageintl.com.