(In case you were wondering, yes, our law firm does serve as a registered agent in both North Carolina and South Carolina, feel free to reach out to us if you’d like to know more by clicking here or calling us at 800.481.2180.)
We break this short, user-friendly article down into two (2) sections: the legalities and the practicalities.
THE LEGALITIES
By way of North Carolina law, a Registered Agent (sometimes referred to as the “RA”) can be served with “service of process, notice or demand required or permitted by law to be served on an entity”. The entity being referred to here will be one of the following business entities registered with / on file to do business in N.C.:
(A) a domestic (North Carolina) business corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, or limited liability partnership; or
(B) a foreign corporation, nonprofit corporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, or limited liability partnership.
Thus, a Registered Agent’s primary legal duty is to receive any of the items listed above which can be served on a North Carolina LLC, corporation, or other business entity via the RA. This is true regardless of whether your business or Registered Agent is located in Asheville, Boone, Cary, Charlotte (or anywhere else in the “Great State of Mecklenburg”), Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington, or any point in between in our State.
THE PRACTICALITIES
We lawyers at McGrath & Spielberger know that sometimes attorneys – to the detriment of their clients – don’t focus enough on the practical aspects of doing business and the day-to-day, real world ways in which the law impacts businesses and business owners. Let’s not fall into that trap – instead let’s go ahead and discuss some key practical and logistical factors relating to Registered Agents in North Carolina.
• What’s the #1 quality you need in a Registered Agent? Reliability.
• Why? Because, practically, if that Registered Agent doesn’t effectively process any of those notice-type items which it receives, you may have a problem.
• Your RA needs to get you these items to you immediately, in full, and preferably via multiple methods.
The consequences of not having a reliable RA will be explored in another article, but suffice it to say that your LLC, corporation, or other relevant business entity can suffer significant loss of legal rights and even end up with a court order, judgment, or other legal decree against it if your RA isn’t effectively and efficiently handling its duties.
The bottom line: it’s vitally important to have a Registered Agent who is compliant and reliable.
This is one of a series of articles by our law firm on the topic of registered agents. For more articles on this topic, click here to access all the “Registered Agent” category of articles or select a title below.