Maine Registered Agent Service for Commercial and Noncommercial Filers

Maine adopted the Model Registered Agents Act, 5 MRSA chapter 6-A, and the Secretary of State's Division of Corporations, UCC and Commissions in Augusta applies it. Maine calls the filing a Certificate of Formation, on Form MLLC-6 under 31 MRSA section 1531, not Articles of Organization. The filing fee is $175. The form also asks for the filing date or a later effective date, and whether the LLC is a low-profit or a professional LLC.

Item five of the form is the registered agent, and it offers two choices. A commercial registered agent is identified by name and its public number on the state's CRA list. A noncommercial agent is identified by name, a physical location that the form says is "not P.O. Box," and a mailing address.

The agent is authorized to receive service of any process, notice or demand required or permitted by law to be served on the entity, and under 5 MRSA section 114 it has to forward what is served on it to the entity. State reminders do not depend on the agent: the Division's forms ask for an email address to use for annual report reminders. The administrative dissolution notice is different, because 31 MRSA section 1592 sends it to the registered agent. The rules described are for LLCs, and the same agent service is open to corporations, LPs, LLPs and nonprofits.

A commercial registered agent is a company or individual listed with the Secretary of State under section 106, and its listing states a place of business in Maine. The agent appears on the state's commercial registered agent list with a public number. Because the agent is already on file, you do not list its address on the Certificate of Formation. You give its name and its CRA public number.

That keeps a home or personal address off the public certificate.

Both categories are valid under Maine law.

A noncommercial agent is anyone you appoint who is not on the commercial list: an individual, or a domestic or foreign entity that serves as an agent for service of process of an entity in Maine. Typically that is yourself, a partner, an employee or an attorney. The agent's name and address then go onto your public filing.

For a noncommercial agent the form asks for a physical location in Maine, and it specifies not a P.O. box, plus a mailing address. Section 104 asks for an actual street address or rural route box number in the State and a mailing address in the State if different. A box number belongs only in the mailing address.

Consent is built in. Under 5 MRSA section 105, naming a registered agent on a filing constitutes an affirmation that the agent has consented to serve. Whichever type you choose, ask before the certificate goes in the mail.

Serving as your own noncommercial agent is allowed. You list your Maine location and a mailing address. Your name and street address then appear on your public filing, and papers are delivered to the address you list. If you are out on a job, closed for the off-season or simply away when a process server comes, a lawsuit can be missed.

You are also the one the administrative dissolution notice goes to, because the state sends it to the registered agent.

A commercial agent is listed with the state, with a place of business in Maine on its listing. If you move, its address does not change.

The change is made on Form CLK/RA-3, the Statement of Appointment or Change of Clerk or Registered Agent, and the fee for an LLC is $35. It is separate from your annual report and from the Certificate of Formation. It names the new agent: a commercial agent by name and CRA public number, a noncommercial one by name, physical street address and mailing address. Any duly authorized person signs it for the LLC, and the members or managers do not need to approve. It takes effect on filing.

Maine works by mail on this filing. The change page offers PDF forms only, mailed to the Division in Augusta, and the cover letter lists expedite options of $50 for the next business day and $100 for the same day. Confirm with the Division that the record shows the new agent.

Moving to Mainstay means we prepare and submit the CLK/RA-3 for you, with the $35 passed through at cost. A commercial agent has to be on the state's CRA list before its number can go on the form.

A Maine agent resigns by filing a statement of resignation with the Secretary of State at any time. Under 5 MRSA section 111 it takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after it is filed or the appointment of a new registered agent, and the agent has to promptly give the entity notice, in a record, of the filing date. The filing fee depends on the agent: a commercial agent pays nothing, and a noncommercial agent pays $35. So you have about a month to file the $35 Form CLK/RA-3 with a replacement.

If an entity has no registered agent, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be served, section 113 allows service by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the governors of the entity by name at its principal office, and the names and address may be as shown in the most recent annual report. Failing that, a copy can be handed to the manager, clerk or other person in charge of any regular place of business.

A missing agent can also end the LLC. Being without a registered agent in Maine, or not telling the Secretary of State about a change or resignation, is a ground for administrative dissolution under 31 MRSA section 1591. The Secretary sends notice to the registered agent, and the LLC is dissolved if the problem is not corrected within 60 days after the notice.

Our Maine price is $149 a year, renewing at $149, for the agent role with compliance reminders. Maine's annual report, due June 1, states the company name, the registered agent, the principal office, a brief statement of the character of the business and at least one member, manager or other authorized person, and it carries an $85 state fee. This service does not file it. The $199 formation package does, and it adds the agent, the Certificate of Formation and your EIN application.

Maine's registered office information becomes Mainstay's. Service of process is scanned and uploaded the same business day at no fee. Government mail gets three free scans a year, then each piece carries a per-piece scan or shipping fee. Free physical forwarding is not included in any tier.