Kentucky Registered Agent

A Kentucky Registered Agent or Kentucky Registered Agent Service is required by law for every business entity in the state of Kentucky. A registered agent is an individual or business entity that will accept legal papers (documents) on your behalf if it is sued. The registered agent or registered agent service must have a physical street address in Kentucky and be available during regular business hours.

In my Kentucky Registered Agent guide, I’ll walk you through the detailed process of when you should get a registered agent or registered agent service for your Kentucky business, how to pick one, if they are required and how to change one if needed. Typically you’re getting a registered agent when you setup your Kentucky LLC. Check out my guide on how to setup a Kentucky LLC so you can make sure you’re following all the right steps in the process. If you are just looking for the professional service to help you – use Northwest Registered Agent or ZenBusiness.

Best Kentucky Registered Agent Service

ZenBusiness will be the best option for setting up a registered agent service in Kentucky. They can also help you with getting your LLC formed so if you’re looking for the best option, check them out today!

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The best Kentucky registered agent (statutory agent) is going to be ZenBusiness. I recommend using them because of how easy the process is with them and they have fantastic customer support to help make the LLC formation process easy in Kentucky.

Typically you’re going to need a registered agent service when you’re forming your Kentucky LLC so you might as well use them because they will typically give you the first year of the registered agent service included with the LLC formation.

Whether you’re looking to setup a new registered agent service or change from another provider, ZenBusiness is the best place for you to go.

My LLC is registered in Oregon and it’s been a fantastic experience having a registered agent service help me keep track of the most important legal compliance issues that I need to. If I had to be my own registered agent it would be incredibly difficult to keep track of it all and legally I really wouldn’t want to. It stresses me out and I would much rather focus on building my business than think about the legal pieces that go along with this.

What is a Kentucky Registered Agent?

A Kentucky Registered Agent is no different than any other state’s registered agent. All the states in the US are required to help you do three primary things:

– have a physical street address in the state

– be available during regular business hours

– accept legal papers on your behalf if you are sued

The main purpose of having a registered agent is so that if your LLC is ever served with a lawsuit or official government documents, your registered agent will be there to accept them on your behalf. It’s that simple.

This is not a virtual mailbox service or some kind of UPS Store PO Box. This is something that allows you to focus on building your business and if you’re thinking about trying to use a virtual mailbox service – don’t. This is not about that. This is to help you stay legally compliant with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office and make sure your business stays formed and is not dissolved by not having legal coverage from a Kentucky registered agent.

Why do I need a Kentucky Registered Agent?

We just went through this a bit but to dig in more and really understand why you need one besides the fact that it’s legally required in Kentucky. The biggest reason I like to talk about is if you tried to do this as your own registered agent. If you do that anybody in the world can go to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website and do a business name lookup. Within that business name, they will be able to find the registered agent’s name and registered agent’s address. Think about that for a second. If you are the Kentucky Registered Agent on record for your business entity then anybody can go find you. That means that if you wanted to use your home address, it’s going to be on file. That is not what a registered agent should be used for. It’s legal protection so you don’t have someone showing up at your house and serving you legal papers for whatever the reason.

In the short term it might not seem like a big deal but as you start to build your business, it can become a really big problem if it becomes a successful business.

I always recommend using a registered agent service because of this and it just makes your life so much easier than trying to figure out how to thread the needle and be your own registered agent with some makeshift physical location. You can’t have a UPS Store or a PO Box be that physical address. It has to be an actual location that someone is at during normal business hours.

When should I obtain a Kentucky Registered Agent?

The best time to obtain a Kentucky Registered Agent is when you’re forming your business. Whether it’s a domestic LLC, foreign LLC or any other type of business entity – the best time is when you’re forming it. If you try and do this after or come back to it – it really won’t work. As you’re filing the paperwork with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office, you’re going to be required to elect a registered agent with a registered agent’s name name and registered agent’s address.

If you don’t do this, it’s highly likely you don’t have a business. The Secretary of State’s office will dissolve businesses that don’t have valid agents in place for legal reasons.

The other thing you’ll be able to get from your registered agent is that there are compliance deadlines on an annual basis in Kentucky that you’re going to need to follow and they will help you make sure you’re doing just that. Using a service and the cost of doing it is so worth it as you start to work on building your own business.

Can I Be My Own Registered Agent In Kentucky?

Yes. It’s technically possible for you to be your own registered agent in Kentucky but do you really want to do that? I can search the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office website portal and find your name and address if you decide to do this. You should have a Kentucky Registered Agent in place to give you that legal coverage so it’s not showing your name and address.

If you use Northwest Registered Agent, you’re going to most likely have this covered in the first year of your formed business if it’s an Limited Liability Company.

If you think about this long term and decide to go down this path of being your own registered agent, you’re going to be responsible for:

-Answering the phone during normal business hours

-Being at a physical location that can accept legal papers on your behalf

-Forwarding any and all correspondence to you in a timely manner

-Filing the annual report on time with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office

It might seem like a hassle now but if you have a successful business then you will want to focus on building that and have the legal coverage to make sure you don’t have people coming to knock on your home address.

This is also something that needs to happen annually so by having a service, they will make sure you’re in compliance and don’t have it lapse. If it does lapse for whatever reason, your business will be dissolved which is going to be a much bigger problem then just getting a service in the first place. The benefits outweigh the annual cost of having a registered agent service do this for you.

How Much Does a Registered Agent Cost?

The cost is going to range quite substantially depending on whether you want to do this on your own where it will cost you $0 but a lot of other costs like your time and potentially getting another physical location which would be much more than just a service.

The national services like Northwest Registered Agent and ZenBusiness will typically range around $100-200 per year and if you use Northwest Registered Agent they will include that at time of the LLC formation.

If you decide to find a local law firm in Kentucky that can offer registered agent services, that’s an option too. I just like the national providers because they are going to help 1000s of other business owners and make sure they have the right type of customer support and service for your business.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent In Kentucky?

In order to elect your registered agent with Kentucky, you’re going to need to go through the standard process the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office has for forming a business through their Articles of Organization. In this you’ll be able to submit it back to the Department of Business Filings in Frankfort, KY.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent Online in Kentucky?

If you’d like to do this electronically, that’s also an option instead of filling out the doc above and walking it into the Business Filings Department or faxing it in. To do this, you’ll need to head over to the Kentucky Business One Stop Portal and make sure you’re ready for the $40 filing fee too.

How Do I Elect A Registered Agent by Mail, Fax or In Person in Kentucky?

If you’d rather do this by walking in and physically handing off the Articles of Organization, you can do that and head to the Secretary of State’s office. You can either mail it or walk into the office location.

MAILING ADDRESS

Michael Adams

Office of the Secretary of State

P.O. Box 718

Frankfort, KY 40602-0718

OFFICE LOCATION

Room 154, Capitol Building

700 Capital Avenue

Frankfort, KY 40601

Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM-4:30 PM ET

I look forward to hearing what you end up doing to get your business formed but again – I’d go with Northwest Registered Agent or ZenBusiness.

How Do I Change My Registered Agent In Kentucky?

You’re going to need to fill out the Change of Registered Agent and/or Registered Office Address form and send it back to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office. This is the main way you’ll be able to change your registered agent.

If you want to change it online, you can do that at the Statement of Change Entity Selection Portal.

Filing Fee: $10 (paid by check or credit card)

The mailing address and in-person is the same as where to elect your registered agent