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One filing
How to change your New York registered agent
Switching agents in New York is a single form and a $30 state fee. You do not need your current provider's permission, and nothing about your company changes except the address on the record.
The filing
What form do I file?
A Certificate of Change, filed with the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations. The fee is $30 for an LLC and $30 for a business corporation.
The Certificate of Change is the light version of an amendment. It exists so you can update your agent or your service address without reopening the whole formation document, which would cost $60 and take longer.
An LLC files under Section 211-A of the Limited Liability Company Law. A corporation files under Section 805-A of the Business Corporation Law. Same idea, same price, different statute.
One signature does it. A member, manager, or authorized person signs for an LLC. An officer or director signs for a corporation. Your outgoing agent is not part of the transaction and cannot block it.
Current fees are on the Department of State fee schedule.
Step by step
The four steps
We do steps two through four. You do step one.
- Pull your DOS ID from the state's business entity search, and check the exact company name on the record. A name that does not match character for character gets the filing rejected.
- Prepare the Certificate of Change naming the new agent and the new service address.
- Sign and file it, with the $30 fee. Add $25 for 24 hour handling if the timing is tight.
- Tell your old provider you are leaving, and stop the renewal before it bills.
Step four is the one people forget. The state does not tell your old agent anything. If their renewal is set to auto charge, it will charge, and you will be paying two companies for the same job.
Timing
When does the change take effect?
The moment the Department of State accepts the filing. Standard processing usually lands within a few business days. Expedited options run $25 for 24 hours and $75 for same day.
Until it posts, your old agent is still the one on the record and still the one a process server will visit. Plan the gap. If you are mid-lawsuit or expecting something, pay for the 24 hour handling and stop worrying about it.
Common reasons
Why people leave their agent
The renewal jumped
A $99 introductory rate turns into $199 in year two. It is the standard model in this market and it catches people every time.
Documents arrived late
Service of process forwarded by post instead of scanned. A week of a response window gone before the envelope was opened.
They were their own agent
Then they moved, or a process server turned up at the apartment during dinner, and the public home address stopped feeling like a good idea.
The agent resigned
An agent can resign on notice. If nobody replaces them, the company drifts out of good standing and the state keeps forwarding mail to a dead address.
While you are in there
Two things worth checking
A Certificate of Change updates the agent and the service address. It does not update everything else, and the state will not remind you.
Check whether your Biennial Statement is current. It is $9 every two years and a lapsed one is the most common reason a New York company shows as delinquent.
Check the county of office on your Articles of Organization too. It sets your publication cost, and changing your agent does not change it. Our address is in Manhattan, so switching to us does not move your publication county and does not reduce that bill.
New to all of this? Start with what a registered agent does.
One filing and you are out
We prepare the Certificate of Change and file it. Forty nine dollars a year, plus the $30 state fee at cost.