How To Find A Registered Agent In Washington State

What is a Washington Registered Amanuensis?

Before filing your Document of Formation with the Secretary of State, you need to choose a Registered Amanuensis for your Washington LLC.

A Registered Agent in Washington is a person or company who agrees to have legal mail service (known as "service of process") on behalf of your LLC in case your business organization gets sued.

In Washington, the Secretary of State'due south office volition also use your Registered Amanuensis'southward address to ship LLC approval documents and annual report reminders.

Equally per RCW 25.15.021, your LLC'due south Registered Agent must have a physical street address located in Washington.

A Washington Registered Agent address may non be one of the following:

PO Box address
Virtual office address
Individual Mailbox (PMB) or Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA), such as The UPS Shop

(There is ane exception to the PO Box dominion and that is for people enrolled in the Washington Address Confidentiality Plan)

Your Washington Registered Amanuensis needs to be bachelor during normal business hours (9am – 5pm) in instance Service of Procedure arrives. Service of Process for an LLC includes the delivery of legal documents such every bit complaints, summons, and subpoenas.

Your Washington LLC's Registered Agent is a key component to how the court and legal systems work. By requiring all Washington LLCs to have (and continuously maintain) a Registered Amanuensis on file, the delivery of legal mail service and court documents tin be tracked and accounted for.

This is similar to how 'certified mail return receipt' works, but in the legal world, this is how process servers – people delivering legal documents – create a record that something was delivered.

Special offering: If you lot rent Northwest to form your LLC ($39 + state fee), they'll include their Registered Agent service costless for the 1st year.

Can I exist my ain Registered Agent in Washington?

Yes, you lot can exist your Washington LLC's Registered Amanuensis, as long equally y'all have a street address located in the state.

All the same, you actually have 3 options when forming an LLC in Washington:

Option ane: Y'all can be your LLC's Registered Agent in Washington (are there risks?)

Pick 2: A friend or family fellow member tin exist your LLC's Registered Agent.

Selection 3: You can hire a Washington Registered Agent Service, also known as a Commercial Registered Agent.

Registered Agent Data is Public Record in Washington

So while you do have the selection to be your LLC's Registered Agent (or utilise a friend or family unit member), you lot may non want to have your address listed on public records.

Hither'south what happens:

The information you enter in your Document of Germination becomes public tape with the Secretary of Land.

Then other websites download the state'due south information and relist it on their website. They're legally allowed to do this as per public record laws.

Then other public record websites take that aforementioned information and list information technology on their website again (and information technology multiplies from there).

Pretty soon your address is listed on various websites and easily establish with a simple google search.

And so while this is a pain, there are some solutions which we'll discuss beneath.

What's the best Registered Agent option to choose?

Pick #1 (You):

If you have a street accost located in Washington, are bachelor during normal business hours, and don't listen your address being on public record, then y'all can be your LLC's Registered Agent.

Option #2 (Friend or Family):

If you lot don't have a street address located in Washington, simply you have a friend or family member who does, they can be your LLC'south Registered Agent. They'll need to exist available during normal business organisation hours and they shouldn't heed their address being listed on public tape.

Option #3 (Registered Agent Service):

If you lot don't have a street address in Washington (or you'd rather not use it for this), you can hire a Registered Agent Service in Washington.

Washington Registered Agent Service

Notation: The terms "Registered Agent Service" and "Commercial Registered Agent" mean the same thing. We will utilise them interchangeably.

A Washington Registered Agent Service specializes in receiving Service of Process (legal mail) on behalf of your LLC.

Near Registered Amanuensis Services in Washington State cost between $100 and $300 per year.

The Registered Agent Visitor we recommend in Washington is Northwest Registered Agent ($125 per twelvemonth).

Why nosotros recommend Northwest Registered Agent

Northwest Registered Agent is our personal recommendation (and the service we use) considering they've been in business for over twenty years, accept nifty customer service, and they let yous use their address in your entire LLC filing in club to proceed your address off public records.

How to keep your address off public records:

Many filers in Washington first businesses from their home. For this reason, it'southward important to know that your LLC'south Primary Office Address (and all addresses listed in your LLC'due south Certificate of Formation) go a part of public record.

If you want to continue your address off of public record, you can hire a Registered Agent that will let you to use their address as your LLC's address. The but company that allows this is Northwest Registered Agent. They offer Registered Agent services for $125 per yr and they'll let y'all use their address throughout your entire LLC Filing.

Any mail that is sent to your LLC will exist scanned past them and uploaded into your online account.

Special discounted pricing for LLC University® readers

Northwest usually charges $100 + state fees to form an LLC. Notwithstanding, we've negotiated a discounted charge per unit (60% off) for LLC Academy® readers.

Risks of existence your own Registered Agent in Washington

As mentioned higher up, you tin be your own Registered Amanuensis in Washington land.

As well the address privacy nosotros mentioned above, are there whatsoever risks to being your own Registered Agent?

In short, there are risks. They are non extremely likely to occur, simply if they do, you could lose your liability protection and the Washington Secretary of State has the power to administratively dissolve (shut down) your Washington LLC.

This can happen if you don't "continuously maintain" (e'er accept) a Registered Agent on file, or if the Secretary of State is unsuccessful in reaching your Washington Registered Agent.

Additionally, if a process server (a person who serves court documents and notices of lawsuits) is unsuccessful in reaching your Washington Registered Agent (or unsuccessful in serving your LLC), a court instance can proceed in your absence and you might not even know about it. Or worse, the courtroom could enter a default judgment against your LLC if you aren't there to defend yourself.

A few reasons a process server might not exist able to accomplish your Washington LLC'southward Registered Agent:

you, your friend, or family fellow member are not there during business organization hours (the state of Washington requires that your Registered Agent maintain normal business organization hours)
you/they are on holiday or out of town
you/they moved and you forgot to file a Alter of Registered Amanuensis with the country

Next Pace: LLC Certificate of Germination

Once you determine who volition serve equally your Washington LLC's Registered Agent, you can and then proceed to the side by side lesson: Washington LLC Certificate of Germination.

If you plan on hiring a Washington Registered Agent Service (a Commercial Registered Agent), please exercise so before going to the next step. Yous'll need their address for your Certificate of Formation.

Founder & Educator, LLC University®

Matt Horwitz has been the leading proficient on LLC instruction for the past decade. He founded LLC Academy in 2010 afterward realizing people needed elementary and actionable instructions to commencement an LLC that other companies weren't offering. He's cited by Entrepreneur Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and the US Chamber of Commerce, and was featured by CNBC and InventRight.

Matt holds a Available'due south Degree in business organization from Drexel University with a concentration in concern constabulary. He performs extensive research and assay to convert state laws into uncomplicated instructions anyone tin can follow to grade their LLC - all for free! Read more near Matt Horwitz and LLC University.