Filing for your LLC is simple. Most people just go through a service like Legal Zoom or another LLC formation company when they are starting their business. Others just do it themselves (myself included, for the most part) on their states Secretary of States website. Check out the step by step guide on starting a business. Regardless of how you do it, you need to assign a registered agent for the LLC. I am often asked “can I just put my name and address down as that registered again?” and my resounding answer is “yes you can, but you shouldn’t!”

First off, what is a registered agent? A registered agent is nothing more than an individual or business entity that accepts tax and legal documents on behalf of your business. That is literally it. This person would receive special documents from the IRS, the state, or god forbid a lawyer that is suing your LLC. Registered agent information is PUBLIC. For this reason, I recommend AGAINST using your personal name and address for your LLCs registered agent.

Why? Because you want to maintain your anonymity and privacy as much as possible. Why? Because if you are sued, the greedy plaintiff’s lawyer is going to do their research on you to determine what you have. Why? Because they want to see how much you are worth. Is it worthwhile to just go after your insurance policy or you personally? If they know your name, they can look you up in county records, see the house you own, determine its value, try to go after it, etc…

Another reason why you SHOULDN’T use your personal information for your LLCs registered agent is because it makes finding out who owns the LLC more difficult. If you are sued, and people know who you are, and they just look up your LLC and see that you are the registered agent, they will put two and two together and determine that YOU own the LLC. Instead, if you use a friend or a registered agent service, it makes finding out who owns the LLC more difficult. It helps maintain YOUR privacy. You want to maintain your privacy, not only because of lawsuits, but because there are CRAZY people out there…

Now, this isn’t EXTREMELY important, but in my opinion and that of many lawyers, it is just one more way to add a layer of complexity to your LLC. Your job is to make the job of anyone wanting to “research” your LLC a pain in the ass. You need to add layers upon layers of complexity to your business. This is why you need multiple LLCs and an asset protection strategy in place if you end up building a successful and profitable practice. Having someone else be your registered agent is just one of MULTIPLE things you need to be doing within your LLC to help maintain your privacy.

This is a short article because it doesn’t need to be long and complex. DO NOT BE YOUR OWN REGISTERED AGENT! End of story.