Hawaii Registered Agent

At minimum, your Hawaii registered agent will accept legal documents (service of process) and official mail on behalf of your business in Hawaii at a location called a registered office. In other words, your registered agent’s address acts as the official place where any service of process and official mail for your Hawaii LLC, Hawaii corporation or Hawaii nonprofit will be sent.

However, the right registered agent service can do much more. At Northwest, we go above and beyond the minimum to ensure top speed, security, privacy and support.

Per Hawaii Statute §425-19, Hawaii requires the following of its registered agents:

• Must be a resident of Hawaii or a domestic or foreign business entity registered in Hawaii.
• Must maintain a physical street address (i.e. registered office) in Hawaii.

If you own a business in Hawaii, you can act as your own registered agent. This means you would be the person designated to accept all official mail on behalf of your business, including service of process, and will serve as your business’ primary contact with the state. There are only a few requirements for you to act as your own registered agent in Hawaii: you must be a resident and have a physical street address in the state of Hawaii where you keep regular business hours (the physical residence can be the same address as the business).

How do I become my own registered agent?

The process for you to act as your own initial Hawaii registered agent is simple—all you must do is put your name and physical address on the formation documents for your business. Formation documents are the forms that you file with the Business Registration Division, and in Hawaii, these documents are called articles of incorporation for a corporation, and articles of organization for a limited liability company.

When filling out these documents, you will see questions asking for the name of your registered agent, as well as the address. This is where your name and your address go. Once you fill out these lines and the document has been filed, you are officially your own registered agent.

Being your own registered agent in Hawaii will cost you $0, however, when you act as your own registered agent, once those formation documents are filed with the state, your name and address become searchable, public knowledge. It’s imperative that you maintain regular business hours at the address you listed, and that it is a regular street address. No PO boxes will be accepted as your registered agent address in Hawaii. If you value your privacy and hate getting junk mail, you’d be better off hiring a service like Northwest Registered Agent.

What if I already have a registered agent?

If you’ve already formed your business in Hawaii, and have decided to hire yourself as your registered agent, the process to change your Hawaii registered agent to yourself is straightforward. Hawaii furnishes a form called the Statement of Change of Registered Agent by Entity form. You’ll simply specify your entity type (for-profit corporation, nonprofit corporation, LLC, LLP, etc.), write the name and address of your current registered agent, fill in your own information as the new registered agent, and fill out all additional information. There is a $25 fee when you file the form.

Remember, once this is filed with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, whatever address you use will be on file with the state as public information and this is where the process servers and sheriff deputies will be delivering lawsuits should your Hawaii LLC or Hawaii corporation be sued.

There are two ways to change your registered agent in Hawaii.

1. Hire us and we’ll complete the change of agent form for you for free.
2. Do it yourself and file a Change of Registered Agent by Entity with the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Business Registration Division.

At Northwest, we do business the right way. We’re dedicated to getting you your docs fast, protecting your privacy and offering you support. Here’s how:

• Same-Day Scans, Instant Notifications: We accept and scan your docs at our local office the same day. We notify you instantly and reach out to you if your essential mail goes unread.
• Privacy by Default®: We automatically minimize the exposure of and access to your personal data. If we can put our address on a public doc instead of yours, we do. If we don’t have to list your personal info, we don’t. We have tough privacy policies to keep your data safe and private. And we never sell your data.
• Free Limited Mail Forwarding: Of course we’ll get you your state and legal mail. That’s our job. But what if we get some of your regular business mail? It happens a lot—clients and businesses trying to connect with you via your registered agent. We scan 5 documents per year for FREE. We can also scan additional mail at a per document rate of $15.
• Corporate Guides®: Have questions? We have answers. Our guides are business experts whose sole job is to provide phone and email support for all your toughest business questions.