Arizona Statutory Agent Requirements for an LLC

Who can serve

Under A.R.S. §29-3115, an agent may be an Arizona resident or an eligible domestic or authorized foreign entity with a place of business or residence in Arizona. The LLC cannot appoint itself, but an eligible member or manager may be appointed as an individual.

The appointment is not effective until the agent accepts it in a signed record, unless the agent signed the filing that makes the appointment. The ACC publishes a statutory-agent acceptance form as an official starting point.

What the agent does

The statutory agent receives process, notices, and demands for the LLC and forwards them to the company.

The agent is not automatically the LLC’s owner, manager, accountant, or legal adviser. The role concerns receipt and forwarding of process, notices, and demands, plus keeping the filed agent information current.

The privacy tradeoff

Names and addresses on documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission are public records.

That public-record rule is the practical reason some owners compare serving personally with using an eligible commercial service. Private service prices are not fixed by Arizona law, so this guide reports that cost as varies rather than publishing an unverified range.

Changing or losing the agent

The current ACC LLC fee schedule lists $5 for regular processing of a statement changing the principal address or statutory agent.

An LLC must continuously maintain an agent. A.R.S. §29-3708 includes failure to maintain a statutory agent or principal address among the grounds that can lead to administrative dissolution after the statutory notice process.

What to confirm before naming an agent

Confirm that the proposed agent is eligible, has a qualifying Arizona place of business or residence, agrees to the appointment, and can reliably receive documents at the address supplied to the ACC. A mailing address does not replace the Arizona street-address requirement described in the statute and ACC instructions.

Also distinguish the statutory-agent address from the LLC’s principal address. The Articles ask for both, even though the principal address may be the same as the agent’s mailing address. The filed names and addresses are viewable by the public, so the disclosure consequence should be understood before the form is submitted.

Finally, decide who will monitor the company’s relationship with the agent. If an owner moves, an agent resigns, or a commercial service ends, the company still has to keep the ACC record current. The official Statement of Change process is the source to check rather than assuming an address update happens automatically.