Texas Registered Agent Statute and Requirements

Texas law attaches two designations to every filing entity: a registered agent and a registered office. Both trace to the Texas Business Organizations Code, both are continuous obligations, and both are public record. Here are the actual rules.

The Statute: BOC §§ 5.201, 5.202 and 5.207

• § 5.201 requires each filing entity, LLCs and corporations included, to designate and continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Texas
• § 5.202 provides the statement-of-change mechanism used when the agent or office is updated
• § 5.207 makes consent a condition: the designated agent must have agreed to serve, in writing or electronically

The Registered Agent's Job

• Service of process: lawsuits against the entity are served on the agent. An unreachable agent means litigation can move forward while the owner is unaware
• SOS correspondence: confirmations, compliance warnings, and administrative notices route to the registered office
• Comptroller mail: franchise tax and Public Information Report notices can arrive there as well

Who Can Serve in Texas

Eligible:

• An individual who is a Texas resident
• A domestic entity, or a foreign entity registered to transact business in Texas

Not eligible:

• The filing entity itself; a Texas company cannot hold its own agent designation
• Anyone who never consented to the appointment

Consent is not a formality. A designation without the agent's written or electronic agreement fails § 5.207.

Registered Office Address Rules

• Must be a street address where the agent can personally be served during normal business hours
• May not be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service, and a bare PO box does not qualify
• Need not be the entity's principal place of business; a dedicated agent office satisfies the statute
• Is public: the address sits in the Secretary of State's searchable records for the life of the entity

What Happens Without a Valid Agent

An entity whose agent has resigned, moved, or stopped answering has no dependable point of service. Process servers deliver to whatever address the state record shows; if nobody competent is behind it, court deadlines can expire before the owner learns a case exists. State and Comptroller notices go equally dark, which is how entities drift into franchise tax trouble without noticing. None of this is theoretical, and all of it is avoidable with a functioning agent on record.

The Case for a Commercial Agent

Acting as your own agent through a member or employee puts a personal address in the public database, chains someone to a desk during business hours, and stakes lawsuit response time on that person never being out sick. We remove all three problems: staffed Texas office, same-day document scanning into your portal, your personal address nowhere in the record.

$99/year, flat, for the complete role.

Order Here Learn more about forming a Texas LLC or changing your agent.