Change the Registered Agent on Your Louisiana LLC

Your Louisiana LLC named a registered agent when it filed its Articles of Organization and Initial Report, and the state expects that information to stay current for as long as the company exists. Several common situations call for an update.

The usual reasons

• Your current agent resigned. A registered agent (whether a person or a service) can step down. When that happens, you need to name a replacement quickly so there's no gap.
• You've been your own agent and want privacy. Many owners start out listing their home address to save money, then switch to a commercial service once they realize the address is public and searchable.
• Your agent moved. If the individual serving as your agent no longer lives in Louisiana, they can't continue in the role, since an individual agent must be a Louisiana citizen residing in the state.
• You're switching services. Maybe your current commercial agent raised prices, gave poor service, or you're consolidating everything under one provider like Mainstay Filing.
• A relationship changed. If a business partner or friend was serving as your agent and that relationship ended, you'll want them off your public filings.

In every one of these cases, the fix is the same: file Form 983 with the Louisiana Secretary of State to put the correct agent and registered office on record.

Louisiana handles registered agent changes through the Secretary of State's Commercial Division. The form is Form 983, and since October 1, 2026, when Act 921 raised the division's fees, it costs $30 (it was $25). You can submit it on the geauxBIZ portal or on paper, and owners in the 14 parishes where online filing is mandatory use geauxBIZ. The change updates the registered agent name and the registered office address on your LLC's public record.

The general steps

1. Line up the new agent. Confirm your new registered agent is eligible: a Louisiana citizen who lives in the state, a Louisiana law partnership or professional law corporation, or a corporation or LLC authorized in Louisiana that has a certificate on file naming at least two individuals at its Louisiana address.
2. Get the sworn acceptance. R.S. 12:1308 says any change of registered agent must come with a notarized affidavit of acknowledgment and acceptance signed by the new agent.
3. File Form 983 with the Secretary of State, listing the new agent and the registered office at a Louisiana municipal address (not a P.O. box only), and pay the $30 fee, plus $5 if you pay by card.
4. Confirm the update. Once processed, the new agent and address appear in the Louisiana business database. Verify the record reflects the change before you consider it done.
5. Notify the old agent. If you were using a commercial service, let them know so they can close out your account and stop billing you.

The new agent's affidavit

The notarized affidavit is the step people forget. If you're moving to a commercial service, it will handle its side as part of onboarding. If you're naming an individual, make sure they've actually agreed, understand the responsibility, and can get to a notary before you file.

Letting your registered agent information lapse isn't a paperwork technicality. It has real consequences.

Missed legal documents

The registered agent exists so lawsuits and official notices reach your LLC. If your listed agent has resigned, moved, or gone unreachable, a process server may deliver documents to an address nobody is watching. You could lose a lawsuit by default simply because you never learned it was filed. By the time you find out, a judgment may already be on the books.

Loss of good standing

Louisiana requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent, so an LLC whose agent has resigned or vanished is out of compliance. The bigger danger is what the agent no longer passes along. Annual report reminders go there, and so does the written notice, at least 30 days in advance, that the Secretary of State sends before revoking an LLC that has missed three consecutive annual reports. If nobody's watching that address, revocation can arrive as a surprise, and undoing it takes a reinstatement application, the current annual report, and a fee.

Practical fallout

An LLC that isn't in good standing can hit problems it didn't expect: a bank may balk at opening or maintaining an account, a lender may pause a loan, and you may be unable to get a certificate of good standing when a client, landlord, or another state asks for one. Keeping the agent current keeps all of that clear.

If you're changing agents, moving your registered agent service to Mainstay Filing is straightforward, and it comes with the same benefits our formation clients get.

What the switch does for you

• Your address comes off the public record. We list our Louisiana address as your registered office, so your home or office address no longer sits in a searchable database.
• Papers have a dependable home. Receiving documents is our everyday work, so nothing is missed because you were out of the office or traveling.
• Documents reach you fast. When something arrives from a court or the Secretary of State, we get it to you quickly, so a lawsuit or state notice never sits unnoticed.
• We handle your annual report. We track the anniversary of your formation and file the report for you, so it doesn't slip past.
• One less thing to maintain. Our address stays constant even if you relocate, so the field most likely to fall out of date simply doesn't.

How we handle the change

You give us the LLC's details and your current agent information. We prepare Form 983, provide our notarized acceptance, and submit it to the Louisiana Secretary of State. Once the state processes it, we confirm the record reflects our address, and your registered agent obligation is handled going forward.

Registered agent changes aren't urgent in the sense of a hard annual deadline, but you shouldn't sit on them. If your current agent has resigned or become unreachable, every day without a valid agent is a day your LLC could miss something important. Make the change as soon as you know a change is needed.

Confirm the record is right

After the filing is processed, look up your LLC in the Louisiana commercial name search and check that the registered agent name and registered office address show the new information. Filing errors do happen, and it's better to catch a wrong address immediately than to discover it when a legal document goes to the wrong place.

Keep your own records

Hold on to the confirmation of the change. If a bank, lender, or counterparty later questions who your registered agent is, you'll have proof the record was updated and when. Your next annual report will state the registered office and agent again, so read it over before filing to make sure it matches the change.