South Carolina Foreign Registration › Agent for service
The agent for service and designated office of a South Carolina foreign LLC
A foreign LLC authorized in South Carolina, which costs $110 to apply for, maintains a designated office in South Carolina, which need not be a place of business, and an agent for service of process whose street address is in South Carolina. Changing either costs $10.
Who can be the agent
The Act allows an individual resident of South Carolina, a domestic corporation, another limited liability company, or a foreign corporation or foreign company authorized to do business in the state. The agent's street address goes on the application. The designated office need not be a place of business.
If the agent cannot be found
The Act provides that when an LLC fails to appoint or keep an agent for service, or the agent cannot be found at its address with reasonable diligence, the Secretary of State is the company's agent for service of any process, notice or demand. Process served on the Secretary of State is forwarded by registered or certified mail to the designated office, and service takes effect on the earliest of the date the company receives it, the date on a signed return receipt, or five days after mailing, whichever is earliest. Each service carries a $10 charge that the winning party can recover as costs.
The same appointment by default
An LLC that transacts business without authority makes the same appointment: the Secretary of State becomes its agent for claims from that business.
Changing the agent or the office
| Change | Form | State fee |
|---|---|---|
| New agent or new designated office, LLC | Form F0086 | $10 |
| New registered agent or office, corporation | Statement of change | $10 |
| Agent resigns, corporation | Statement of resignation | $3 |
| Agent moves its own office, corporation | Statement of change for each client | $10 |
A statement of change for an LLC names the company, the current and new designated office addresses, and the current and new agent.
When an agent resigns
An agent resigns by delivering a statement of resignation to the Secretary of State, who mails a copy to the designated office and another to the company, and the agency ends on the thirty-first day after the statement is filed. A corporate agent files the original and two copies. Name a new agent before the thirty-first day, since losing the agent is a ground for revocation.
Corporations
A foreign corporation keeps a registered office that may be the same as any place of business and a registered agent, who may be an individual who resides in South Carolina with a business office identical to the registered office, or a domestic or foreign corporation authorized in the state with a business office identical to it. A change is made by statement setting out 6 points, including the new agent's written consent.
Revocation and the agent
Not keeping an agent, or not reporting a new agent or address, is a ground for revocation. The notice goes to the agent or, when none is kept, to the designated office, and it gives no fewer than 60 days' warning.
Ordering through us
No South Carolina agent of your own? We can serve, or you can give us the name of the one you hold, and we write it into F0008.
You or a paid service
An owner who lives in South Carolina at a street address can be the agent. Anyone else needs an individual resident of South Carolina, a domestic corporation, another limited liability company, or a foreign corporation or foreign company authorized to do business in the state.
Questions for a commercial agent
Find out how fast papers are forwarded, the annual charge, and whether the agent signs an agreement before you name it. If the agent's own office moves, it must tell each client and file a statement.
The limits of an agent
An agent receives legal papers. Filing the corporate report, answering a lawsuit and paying taxes stay with the entity.
Agent questions
Can I act as my own agent?
You can when you live in South Carolina at a street address.
Can a company be the agent?
Yes, if it is a corporation or LLC of this state, or a company from elsewhere that is authorized here.
What if nobody can find my agent?
The Secretary of State is the agent in that case.
When does a resignation take effect?
On the thirty-first day after the statement is filed.
What you pay
Apply in South Carolina
- Form F0008, drafted from your answers
- Your home certificate, timed to stay inside the thirty-day limit
- A South Carolina agent for service, ours or the one you name
- The filed application, copied back to you
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
$199
+ $110 South Carolina fee
Apply in South CarolinaFor an LLC, $110 goes to the Secretary of State and is billed apart from our charge; corporations and others are covered on their own pages. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Sources
- Form F0008, application for a certificate of authority (foreign LLC), with filing instructions
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 44, Uniform Limited Liability Company Act
- South Carolina Secretary of State, FAQs about business entities
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 1, general provisions, fees and taxes
- Form F0002, application by a foreign corporation for a certificate of authority
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 31, nonprofit corporations
- South Carolina Business Entities Online
- Form F0086, notice of change of designated office, agent or agent address (foreign LLC)
- S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 15, foreign corporations
Opening in South Carolina?
Order now and the certificate is timed to the filing day.