Legal Question in Business Law in Virginia

Advantages of an incorporated business having a registered agent?

We are a small VA plumbing business that is incorporated, and currently have a registered agent. Last year, the owners changed (within the same family), but the agent (an attorney) failed to notify the State Corp. Commission of the change. We were obviously dismayed by the poor quality of this service, but it raises a larger question. Given that the business and its owners are located in VA, 1) do we need a registered agent? 2) What are the advantages of having one, and the disadvantages (besides the cost) of having one? 3) What can a registered agent do (or do better) than we can do ourselves?


Asked on 3/19/07, 5:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Press Chung & Press, P.C.

Re: Advantages of an incorporated business having a registered agent?

If you are a corporation, you are required to have a registered agent, who can be an officer of the corporation, a lawyer, or a company set up to be a regular registered agent. The role of the registered agent is simply to receive court process and certain other papers on behalf of the entity and forward them to the proper people. The registered agent is not, as such, supposed to file anything showing a change in ownership or officers (ownership info is not filed with the State Corporation Commission anyway). As your lawyer, you may ask him/her to prepare reports as to who the officers are (normally these are just updated annually), but it is in the capacity of lawyer, not registered agent.

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Answered on 3/19/07, 6:16 pm


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