If you act as your own registered agent, you must have someone present at all times during ordinary business hours to accept legal service. You're not just ren

If you act as your own registered agent, you must have someone present at all times during ordinary business hours to accept legal service. You're not just renting someone else's address. You're also renting an employee that will take papers from a sheriff's deputy on behalf of your business. But a registered agent business is not the only type of business that can provide such services. Attorney's offices can do it. A self-storage business can do it. A private mailbox business can do it. A crazy cat-person that never leaves the house can do it. Those options may be cheaper than the specialist business, but most RA businesses will provide additional services that make the higher fees worthwhile. For instance, they will not only inform you in a timely fashion when your business has been sued, but may also e-mail you a scanned copy of the complaint and summons within minutes of receiving it. Also, registered agent businesses are likely to have offices in place in multiple states, so they can better compete on price if your business operates in more than just one state. That said, don't buy RA services from Corporation Service Company, because they buy up tech businesses and then indiscriminately fire all the software pros.