Est. MMXXVI — Charted, not carried51 jurisdictions · 50 states + DCNo providers ranked
RA NAVIGATORThe navigator's desk for registered agents

The Logbook — Entry 12 of 13

Twelve questions to ask before you hire an agent

The checklist the desk would use: renewal price, exit terms, forwarding speed, and who actually staffs the office.

How to use this list

Put these twelve questions to any commercial agent — national network or the firm on the next street — before you sign. Ask by email, so the answers exist in writing. An agent who answers plainly is giving you evidence about the only quality that matters: how they handle paper that matters.

The twelve questions

  1. What is the renewal price for my state in year two — the exact figure, not the first-year figure?
  2. When does the service renew, how am I warned, and how do I cancel — online, by phone, or by certified letter to a specific department?
  3. Is there a resignation, transfer, or exit fee when I change agents? What about a fee to forward my remaining mail?
  4. Who staffs the registered office — your own employees, at your own address, or a subcontractor's counter?
  5. A summons arrives at 10 a.m. When, exactly, do I know — same-day scan, phone call, or first-class mail?
  6. How many pieces of mail and scanned pages are included, and what are the overage prices?
  7. Are state notices unlimited and unmetered, or do they count against my allowance?
  8. What is the price for my second and third state — and is there a real bundle discount or a cosmetic one?
  9. Do you file my annual report, remind me about it, or neither? If you remind, to which contact, and what happens when that contact leaves?
  10. Can I see the actual invoice structure — state fees separated from your service fees?
  11. How long do you keep originals of served documents, and how do I obtain them in year three?
  12. If your company is acquired or exits the business, what happens to my appointment and my records?

Reading the answers

Precision is the tell. "Around $X" on a renewal price, silence on exit fees, enthusiasm about dashboards paired with vagueness about staffing — each is a sounding of the water under the pier. The agent's job, remember, is to be found and to forward. Hire the office that talks about those two acts the way a pilot talks about weather: specifically, and without decoration.

And if you are deciding between hiring anyone at all — the five-condition test in Entry 04 remains the honest first question.