How long does it take to change a registered agent in Alabama?

We have not confirmed a published processing time for a change of registered agent, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State before relying on a date. You file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with a $100 filing fee, either by mailing two copies or by email as the form instructs. Until the change is filed, your current agent remains the agent on record, so keep them in place until you have confirmation. To move forward, have your new agent sign the consent on the form, then submit it to the Secretary of State's Business Services Division.

What is the cost to change a registered agent in Alabama?

Changing your registered agent in Alabama means filing the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with the Alabama Secretary of State. The state filing fee is $100, according to the Secretary of State's fee schedule. This fee covers only the state's processing of your change. It doesn't include any service fees your new registered agent may charge. The national registered agent services we compare charge an annual fee, so compare renewal prices before you sign up. Your current registered agent remains the agent on record until the change is filed, so plan your transition to avoid gaps. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.

Can I serve as my own registered agent in Alabama?

Yes, you can serve as your own registered agent in Alabama if you are an Alabama resident with a business office at the LLC's registered office, a street address in Alabama (not a P.O. box), where legal papers can be handed to you in person. However, this requires personal responsibility. You must accept and promptly deal with all documents served on your LLC, and missing a lawsuit notice could result in a default judgment against your company. Many Alabama LLC owners choose a professional registered agent service instead. Northwest Registered Agent charges $125 a year for registered agent service and LegalZoom charges $249 a year, and a service gives you an address on the public record that is not your own, someone available during business hours, and less risk of missing service of process. To switch to yourself, file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form naming yourself as the new agent.

Will changing my registered agent affect my LLC's good standing?

No, changing your registered agent won't by itself affect your LLC's standing in Alabama, provided you file the change properly and keep an agent in place throughout. You file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with the Alabama Secretary of State, and the $100 fee. Alabama law requires your LLC to continuously maintain a registered agent, so avoid any gap between your old agent leaving and your new one being on file. Your next step is to confirm your new agent's acceptance, have them sign the consent on the form, then file it before your current agent stops serving. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.

Can I file the registered agent change online in Alabama?

The Alabama Secretary of State's change of registered agent form tells you to mail two copies or email the filing; it does not describe an online filing option for this change. The filing fee is $100, payable by check, money order or credit card using the payment slip that comes with the form. The new agent must sign the consent to appointment before you file. Until the change is on file, your current agent remains the agent on record. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.

How to Change Your Registered Agent in Alabama

Complete guide to updating your LLC's registered agent with the Alabama Secretary of State, including the required form and fee.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: October 2026

Affiliate disclosure: We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Get registered agent service from NorthwestRegistered agent service is $125/yr. The included first year applies only when you form a new LLC with them ($39 plus your state's filing fee), so it does not apply to an LLC you already have. Registered agent customers are enrolled by default in Northwest's renewal service, which charges your saved payment method $100, plus any state fee or tax it pays for you, each time it handles a state filing for you, cancellable any time.

Not sure which service is right? Compare formation services →

Step diagram for changing an LLC's registered agent in Alabama, showing the 5 filing steps required by the Alabama Secretary of State. — The 5 steps to change your registered agent in Alabama. Source: Alabama Secretary of State.

How to File

1
Obtain consent from your new registered agent
Before filing any paperwork, confirm your new registered agent agrees to serve. The agent must be an Alabama resident or an entity registered to do business in Alabama, with a business office at a street address in Alabama.
2
Complete the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form
Download the form from the Alabama Secretary of State's business downloads page at https://www.sos.alabama.gov. Enter your Alabama entity ID number, your LLC name, the current agent and office on file, and the new agent and office. The form must be typed.
3
Have your new registered agent sign the form
The new registered agent must sign the consent to appointment on the form before you file it. The form does not call for notarization.
4
Submit the form with filing fee
Mail two copies of the completed form with the $100 filing fee and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Secretary of State, Business Services, P.O. Box 5616, Montgomery, Alabama 36103, or email the filing as the form instructs.
5
Update your LLC records
Once approved, update your internal LLC records, operating agreement if applicable, and notify banks, vendors, and other parties of the registered agent change.

Need the Alabama Secretary of State?

Go directly to the Alabama Secretary of State website.

Visit the Alabama filing office →

When Should You Change Your Registered Agent?

Your current registered agent is moving out of Alabama or closing their business
You're switching from a family member or friend to a professional registered agent service
Your registered agent is no longer responsive or reliable in handling legal documents
You want a commercial service's address, not your home address, listed for the registered agent

Hiring a service is optional. You can name yourself or another individual with a street address in Alabama, and the FAQ below gives Alabama's own rule.

Registered agent services for Alabama LLCs, by renewal price

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This table is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and the rows below it say which one fits which situation. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is on the formation services review, which orders them on three-year cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.

Service	With formation, year 1	Annual renewal	BBB	Trustpilot	Privacy
Northwest Registered Agent	Included with $39 formation	$125/yr	A	4.1/5 (297)	Says it does not sell your information; runs its own servers
Bizee	Free year one (some visitors are being shown shorter free periods, so confirm at checkout)	$149/yr	C (unaccredited)	4.8/5 (26,100+)	No data-sharing commitment
ZenBusiness	$99, not included in any plan	$199/yr	A	4.8/5 (32,500+)	Partial
LegalZoom	Not included, $249 extra	$249/yr	A+	4.6/5 (32,900+)	Partial

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Prices are each provider's standard published rates; year-one pricing applies when you form your LLC through the same service. BBB and Trustpilot figures as recorded September 15, 2026, not re-checked since, and both sources update continuously. These are the dates the figures were last written to our dataset, which is the most we can show: they are not verification dates. See how we evaluate these companies in our full formation services review →

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because missing a deadline can cost the company its good standing or, in many states, its existence.

Read this guide for another state:

Frequently Asked Questions

: We have not confirmed a published processing time for a change of registered agent, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State before relying on a date. You file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with a $100 filing fee, either by mailing two copies or by email as the form instructs. Until the change is filed, your current agent remains the agent on record, so keep them in place until you have confirmation. To move forward, have your new agent sign the consent on the form, then submit it to the Secretary of State's Business Services Division.
: Changing your registered agent in Alabama means filing the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with the Alabama Secretary of State. The state filing fee is $100, according to the Secretary of State's fee schedule. This fee covers only the state's processing of your change. It doesn't include any service fees your new registered agent may charge. The national registered agent services we compare charge an annual fee, so compare renewal prices before you sign up. Your current registered agent remains the agent on record until the change is filed, so plan your transition to avoid gaps. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.
: Yes, you can serve as your own registered agent in Alabama if you are an Alabama resident with a business office at the LLC's registered office, a street address in Alabama (not a P.O. box), where legal papers can be handed to you in person. However, this requires personal responsibility. You must accept and promptly deal with all documents served on your LLC, and missing a lawsuit notice could result in a default judgment against your company. Many Alabama LLC owners choose a professional registered agent service instead. Northwest Registered Agent charges $125 a year for registered agent service and LegalZoom charges $249 a year, and a service gives you an address on the public record that is not your own, someone available during business hours, and less risk of missing service of process. To switch to yourself, file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form naming yourself as the new agent.
: No, changing your registered agent won't by itself affect your LLC's standing in Alabama, provided you file the change properly and keep an agent in place throughout. You file the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form with the Alabama Secretary of State, and the $100 fee. Alabama law requires your LLC to continuously maintain a registered agent, so avoid any gap between your old agent leaving and your new one being on file. Your next step is to confirm your new agent's acceptance, have them sign the consent on the form, then file it before your current agent stops serving. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.
: The Alabama Secretary of State's change of registered agent form tells you to mail two copies or email the filing; it does not describe an online filing option for this change. The filing fee is $100, payable by check, money order or credit card using the payment slip that comes with the form. The new agent must sign the consent to appointment before you file. Until the change is on file, your current agent remains the agent on record. We have not confirmed a published processing time for this filing, so check with the Alabama Secretary of State.

Sources

11 documents

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Alabama sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.

Alabama statute: Ala. Code 10A-1-5.31 (registered agent and registered office)
Alabama statute: Ala. Code 10A-1-5.32 (statement of change of registered agent)
Alabama Secretary of State: Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form (rev. 1/2022)
Alabama Secretary of State: Fee Schedule (Change of Registered Agent or Office by Entity, $100)
sos.alabama.gov/business-entities/llcsAlabama Secretary of State: business entity filings
arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1539719.AI1.pdfAlabama statute: annual report exemption
sos.alabama.gov/business-entitiesAlabama agency guidance: annual report exemption
law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-10a/chapter-5a/Alabama statutory text, unofficial mirror: annual report exemption
revenue.alabama.gov/individual-corporate/alabama-business-privilege-tax-and-corporate-share-tax/Alabama agency guidance: Business Privilege Tax
revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/26fbptin.pdfAlabama agency guidance: Business Privilege Tax
revenue.alabama.gov/tax-types/business-privilege-tax/Alabama Department of Revenue: file the Business Privilege Tax

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.

How we check facts

How to File

Obtain consent from your new registered agent

Complete the Change of Registered Agent or Registered Office by Entity form

Have your new registered agent sign the form

Submit the form with filing fee

Update your LLC records