Every Texas LLC, corporation and limited partnership must name a registered agent: a person or company at a physical Texas street address who is available during business hours to accept lawsuits, subpoenas and official mail on the entity's behalf. Many El Paso owners list themselves at their home or shop, which puts their personal address on a public record and means a process server can walk into the restaurant during the dinner rush. Owners who live in Juárez, travel for work or move often risk missing a lawsuit entirely and losing by default judgment. An attorney registered agent solves all of that for a modest yearly fee.
Section 5.201 of the Texas Business Organizations Code requires each filing entity to continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Texas. The agent must be a Texas resident individual or an entity authorized to do business in Texas, must consent to the appointment, and the registered office must be a physical address where the agent is present during normal business hours — a P.O. box or a mailbox store alone does not qualify. If an entity fails to maintain an agent, the Secretary of State may involuntarily terminate it under Section 11.251, and under Section 5.251 the Secretary of State itself becomes the agent for service, which means a lawsuit can be validly served without the owner ever seeing it. Changing agents is done on Form 401 for a $15 fee.
The Law Office of Robert Navar serves as registered agent for El Paso businesses from our office at 11860 Vista Del Sol, staffed during business hours. When a citation, subpoena, garnishment or state notice arrives, we scan and send it to you the same day, tell you what the deadline is, and, because we are a law firm, can advise you on the response immediately rather than simply forwarding an envelope. Registered agent service involves no court appearance by you; our role is to receive documents, not to appear. Online agent services charge similar fees but hand you the paperwork with no explanation, and some El Paso owners have learned about a default judgment only when their bank account was frozen.
Who needs an El Paso registered agent
Every new LLC or corporation must name an agent on its Certificate of Formation, so formation is the natural time to appoint us. Existing entities should switch when the current agent has moved, retired or was a friend who never agreed to the role; when the owner relocates to Juárez, Las Cruces or out of state; when a home address should come off the public record; or when the business operates from a truck, a food trailer or a job site with no fixed office. Mexican companies that register to transact business in Texas under Chapter 9 of the Business Organizations Code also need a Texas agent, and an El Paso attorney is the practical choice.
What happens when a lawsuit is served on your agent
Under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant served with a citation generally must file an answer by 10 a.m. on the Monday after twenty days have passed. Miss it and the plaintiff can take a default judgment for everything requested. When a process server delivers a suit to our office, we log the date and time of service, scan the full packet to you within hours, calculate the answer deadline and explain your options, whether that is a demand letter response, negotiation, or a lawsuit answer that you would engage counsel for separately. The same applies to Comptroller franchise tax notices, which carry their own deadlines before forfeiture.
What's included
- Attorney-staffed registered office at a physical El Paso street address open during business hours
- Written consent to serve and, for existing entities, preparation and filing of Form 401 change of registered agent
- Same-day scan and email of any citation, subpoena, garnishment or government notice received
- Deadline calculation and a brief attorney explanation of what was served and what it requires
- Reminders for the annual franchise tax and Public Information Report due to the Texas Comptroller
- Secure storage of served documents and forwarding of originals on request
How it works
Appointment
For a new company we list our El Paso office as registered agent on the Certificate of Formation. For an existing company we sign a consent and file Form 401 with the Secretary of State to replace the current agent.
Receiving service
Process servers, sheriff's deputies and the state mail legal documents to our office. We accept them, record the exact time of service and scan the complete packet to you the same business day.
Advice and next steps
We tell you the deadline and what the document means. If a response is needed, that is a separate engagement you decide on at the time. Your service renews annually until you cancel or change agents.