Alabama

The requirement in Alabama

Every LLC, corporation, and — in most cases — limited partnership or registered nonprofit formed in Alabama must continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Alabama, from the day the formation is filed until the day the entity is dissolved. The duty also attaches to out-of-state companies that qualify to do business in Alabama: foreign qualification and the appointment of a registered agent are filed together, and neither works without the other.

The registered office must be a physical street address in Alabama where the agent can be found during normal business hours. It is published in the state's business record — which is why whose address it is becomes a privacy decision as much as a legal one.

Who may serve in Alabama

Two kinds of agent are recognized: an individual — an adult resident of Alabama with a physical address there — and a business entity authorized to do business in Alabama whose office is the registered office. You, a co-owner, or an employee can serve if you meet the individual test. A commercial agent meets the entity test and sells the standing. In a growing number of states the agent must formally consent to the appointment; everywhere, an agent who has not agreed to serve is a coverage failure waiting for its first lawsuit.

Changing course in Alabama

Agents are changed by filing a change of registered agent / registered office with the Secretary of State — Business Entities Division — the office publishes the current form and any fee on its own schedule. The safe sequence never changes: the new appointment takes effect first, the old agent's resignation follows, and you confirm the change in the public record before you consider it done.

An agent may also resign on their own initiative. How a resignation takes effect, and how long you then have to name a successor, are set by Alabama law and differ from state to state — what does not differ is that the seat cannot sit empty on paper while the company trades. Treat a resignation letter as a deadline, and file the change immediately.

Reports and the agent in Alabama

Most entities here file a periodic report — annual in most states, biennial in some — with the same office, and it is the filing where agent details are most often restated. Missing it risks late fees and, eventually, administrative dissolution.

Verify the agent of record

Do not take any plate's word for your own record — check it. Search your entity by name in the Secretary of State — Business Entities Division's official business database — reached from the office's own website — and read the agent and address exactly as filed. If what is filed is not who would actually be standing there on a Tuesday, file the change before anything else on your list.

Plate verified against the Secretary of State — Business Entities Division's published rules — October 2026.

Before you appoint anyone in Alabama

• Price the renewal year, not the advertised year.
• Decide whose address goes on the public record — the DIY ledger is honest about the trade.
• Run your facts through the Navigator, set to Alabama.