Plate Nº 05 of 51 — CA
California
California keeps the national pattern with its own hand on the chart: the role here is called the agent for service of process, and the filings live with the Secretary of State.
The requirement in California
Every LLC, corporation, and — in most cases — limited partnership or registered nonprofit formed in California must continuously maintain an agent for service of process and a registered office in California, 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 California: foreign qualification and the appointment of an agent for service of process are filed together, and neither works without the other.
The registered office must be a physical street address in California 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 California
Two kinds of agent are recognized in California: an individual — an adult resident of the state — and a corporation the Secretary of State has authorized to act as agent for the purpose. An ordinary corporation merely authorized to do business in California is not enough; the agent corporation must hold the specific authorization. You, a co-owner, or an employee can serve as the individual.
Changing course in California
Agents are changed by filing a change of agent for service of process / registered office with the Secretary of State — 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 California 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 California
California's Statement of Information is the periodic filing — annual for corporations, biennial for LLCs — and it is where the agent for service of process is restated. Missing it suspends the entity.
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's official business database and read the agent and address exactly as filed: the official entity search. 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's published rules — October 2026.
Before you appoint anyone in California
- 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 California.