Who can serve as my registered agent? What if I don’t have a registered agent or fail to keep my registered agent up to date?

A person can be a registered agent if they are a resident of Texas and have consented to be a registered agent. This can include any person who is an employee, officer or owner of the business, but it may be any third party that has agreed to serve as the registered agent.  An organization may be a registered agent if they are authorized to do business in Texas, and have similarly consented to be the registered agent.  In fact, there are companies whose entire business is to serve as the registered agent for various entities.  Failure to secure the consent of the person or entity being listed as the registered agent may constitute the filing of a false instrument and may open the entity who filed the instrument, and any person who directed or signed the document up to potential civil liability and criminal charges, so it is vitally important to obtain a signed written consent of the registered agent and it is advisable for the entity to file this document among the entity’s corporate books/papers.

Failure to maintain a registered agent for an entity is a serious matter and can have dire consequences for a business.  Under Texas law, when an entity fails to appoint a registered agent in the state (or fails to maintain a registered agent at the registered office), the person seeking to serve a lawsuit or other notice on the entity is then entitled to serve that process or notice on the Secretary of State in place of that registered agent.  By serving the secretary of state, that lawsuit or other notice has been deemed to be served on the entity itself, regardless of whether the entity actually is made aware of the lawsuit or notice.  This means that a lawsuit may filed and served on an entity and a judgment taken against the entity potentially without the entity ever actually knowing about it.


By Iain Berry