1. Determination of Statutory Agent of Record. In order to verify that we are acting in the capacity as your Statutory Agent of Record, we obtained a report from the Arizona Corporation Commission which lists all the Corporation’s, LLC’s, and Partnerships that have designated our firm as the Statutory Agent.
2. Requirements of Law. Arizona law requires a statutory agent to be designated whenever you create a new corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability company. The statutory agent must be an Arizona resident with a precise address which is always designated at the Arizona Corporation Commission or Arizona Secretary of State whenever someone makes an inquiry. When your statutory agent ceases to function, your license for operating a corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability company is revoked.
3. Why Not Use a Commercial Statutory Agent? There are some national corporations who offer to serve as statutory agents. We use these commercial statutory agents whenever we cannot find a responsible attorney in the city where a client intends to do business. A commercial statutory agent will receive the service of court proceedings and other official notices and notify you of its content. They are unable to give any advice as to what you must do in response to the service. It is up to you at that point to find an attorney and pay whatever retainer fee and attorney charges for advice as to how to respond. The cost of the commercial statutory agent is approximately twice what our firm charges for the same service which includes attorney advice on how to respond to the service or notice.
4. Why Not Choose Yourself as a Statutory Agent? If you are a resident of the State of Arizona, you may serve as the statutory agent for your corporation, limited partnership or limited liability company. This subjects you to the possibility of embarrassment when a sheriff or private process server comes to your home or place of business to make service. Depending on timing, this could be terrifically embarrassing. Also, you are subjected to the worry as to what you should do in response to the service and the severity of the service or notice until you are able to set an appointment with your attorney, if you have one, and establish a retainer or agreed fee for advice as to the response. You as the statutory agent have both the embarrassment and the legal fees as to how to respond, or you may not properly document the name and time of service or accept service when it should be refused.
5. Benefits of Having a Local Attorney as the Statutory Agent. These are the benefits of having a local attorney as your statutory agent:
5.1 Less Cost Than a Commercial Statutory Agent. The fees for having our firm serve as the statutory agent or a specific attorney in the firm serve as statutory agents are approximately half the cost of having a commercial statutory agent. For the same price, you have someone to receive the service and to advise you immediately.
5.2 Avoid Embarrassment. Attorneys are trained and callous to having sheriff deputies, police officers, and private process servers coming to their offices. These persons know the attorney will not be intimidated or scared and, therefore, will not do anything to acerbate the scene.
5.3 Insurance That Receipt is Properly Acknowledged. Our firm has systems for receiving service of process and other official notices to document the date, time, and circumstances of the service which is exceedingly important when timing the response.
5.4 Provides a Thinking Person to Evaluate the Severity of the Notice or Service. An attorney who is knowledgeable of the laws will be able to ascertain whether the time is of the essence with regard to the response and determine the severity of the service or notice and respond accordingly.
5.5 The Attorney Has Privileges in Dealing With Other Attorneys. Because of the professional respect of one attorney to another, the attorney is able to call the fellow attorney who initiated the service or notice to find out more information about the intent of the missive and to request extensions of time which are normally granted as a matter of courtesy from one attorney to another.
5.6 When You Receive the Bad News of Service, You Receive Immediate Advice on the Response. It is always gratifying to receive good news with the bad news. Without the attorney evaluation, you might fret over the service or notice unnecessarily. When the attorney statutory agent advises you of the service, he also explains its complications and what is necessary for a response eliminating for your periods of doubt and consternation. You are assured of always having a stand-by attorney. When an attorney functions as a statutory agent, you know you have an attorney “on retainer.” You do not have to establish a new attorney relationship, which sometimes requires an initial retainer or expensive delays. If the attorney statutory agent does not know how to respond, he will know for certain what attorney or other professional is needed to give you the advice necessary for the response.
5.7 Your Statutory Agent Attorney Usually Has Your File. We serve as a statutory agent only for clients whose files we retain. This allows us to review the file when we receive the service of process or notice and better research on how and when to respond to what is served upon us as statutory agent.
Based on the above rationale, we advise that you at all times maintain a local attorney as your statutory agent for your corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability company in the State of Arizona Corporation.