Appointing a Minnesota Registered Agent is one of the most important requirements of forming your limited liability company (LLC) in Minnesota. A real person or a business can serve as your agent, but the agent you appoint must either reside in the state or be allowed to do business in the state.

What Is a Registered Agent?

Before the Minnesota Secretary of State will approve the formation of your LLC, you will need to appoint a qualified registered agent. If your company is ever sued, your Registered Agent will accept any legal documents mailed to your LLC.

Registered Agents in Minnesota are the main point of contact for a business and can receive important mail sent to the business, including:

  • Tax and business notifications
  • Reminders of payment due
  • Other legal documents

If you want to maintain your business's privacy, you should consider hiring a Commercial Registered Agent. In addition to serving as the most reliable option for receiving service of process, hiring a Commercial Registered Agent means you will not need to list your business address in the public records.

To register a business entity in Minnesota, you must appoint a Registered Agent. This requirement is described in State Statute Chapter 5 §36. In Minnesota, your Registered Agent can also be called a "Resident Agent" or a "Statutory Agent."

The main benefit of hiring a Registered Agent is that your business will never miss out on important notifications sent from the State, including service of process documents alerting you that a lawsuit has been filed against your company. Your Registered Agent should maintain a physical commercial address, and it should be possible to get in touch with your agent during typical business hours.

After your Registered Agent receives service of process on behalf of your business, they should notify you that the document has been received and then provide you with the document as soon as possible. If the Secretary of State has any questions or concerns about your business, they will contact your Registered Agent. The State will also send you tax reminders and your business's annual report.

Finding a Minnesota Registered Agent

If you're ready to appoint a Registered Agent for your Minnesota LLC, there are three different options that you can choose:

  • You can name a family member or a friend as your agent.
  • You can pay for a Commercial Registered Agent.
  • You can name yourself as your company's Registered Agent.

If you decide to name an individual as your Registered Agent, this person should be a Minnesota resident. In your LLC's formation documents, you should list the address of your Registered Agent's business office, which is also called a "registered office." The Secretary of State, or anyone else who needs to communicate with your business, should be able to reach your Registered Agent at this listed address.

The address where your Registered Agent can be reached should be a physical Minnesota street address. A post office box is not acceptable. Your LLC Registered Agent must be able to receive service of process during business hours, meaning from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Service of process can include legal documents such as:

  • Complaints
  • Subpoenas
  • Summonses

If you have a Minnesota street address, whether it a business office or your home, and if you can be contacted at this address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., you can serve as your own Registered Agent.

If you don't have a Minnesota street address and don't have any family members or friends who live in the state, you could hire a Commercial Registered Agent, which is a person or business that agrees to receive service of process on your behalf in exchange for regular payments.

The Registered Agent you select for your LLC must fall into one of the following categories:

  • Natural persons
  • Domestic corporations
  • Limited liability companies
  • Foreign corporations or LLCs that are allowed to do business in Minnesota

Your Registered Agent's address must be accessible to the public so that anyone who wants to get in touch with your business is able to do so. Having a Registered Agent can be especially beneficial for web-based businesses because your agent will serve as a physical contact point for your company.

If you need hiring a Minnesota Registered Agent, you can post your legal needs on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.