Serving corporations with missing registered agents
Serving a corporation that owns property is supposed to be easy. Every corporation doing business within a state must appoint a registered agent. The name and address of the registered agent is listed with the agency of the state that deals with business corporations. In many states it is the Secretary of State. When an inspector needs to serve an owner that is a corporation, the paperwork is delivered to the registered agent and the case can proceed to hearing. But, what happens if the registered agent cannot be found? In such a situation, the Secretary of State will accept service on behalf of the corporation if the party can show it used due diligence to serve the registered agent but the person cannot be found. Special forms must be submitted to the Secretary of State but once he or she is served, the court has jurisdiction over the corporation and can issue a default judgment if the corporation does not appear at the hearing.
This is great information to have.
On a slightly different note but involving contact information for service: it would be great if banks were required to place contact information on the Notice of Foreclosure they record or send to the municipalities, specifically contact information that can be used by municipalities for service of notices and citations. Instead the only contact information that is on the Notices is for the attorneys that are filing them. Finding the contact information is cumbersome, especially when the plaintiff is one of the trusts from the foreclosure fallout. I am Interested in your thoughts.
Happy Holidays!
Superb, what a webpage it is! This weblog provides useful information to us, keep it up.
Hey Linda, is this true for all states or just Illinois?
I think it may be. The state has to provide a way to serve the entity if the registered agent can’t be found. You do have to prove due diligence in trying to find the registered agent so you need to document your attempts.