Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In Illinois, this role is called a registered agent, governed by 805 ILCS 180/1-35 (registered office/agent), 1-36 (change), 35-25 (administrative dissolution grounds), 50-15 (delinquency). Illinois pairs a delinquency-and-penalty track with a separate administrative-dissolution track for the same underlying lapse, a more elaborate two-track structure than most of the states compared here.
What the address rule requires
Illinois requires the LLC to continuously maintain a registered office and registered agent in the state; the agent must be an individual resident of Illinois or another person authorized to transact business in the state.
Who can serve as your registered agent
An individual resident of Illinois, or another person (including a commercial registered-agent company) authorized to transact business in Illinois.
What happens if you don’t have one
Illinois uses a two-track consequence structure rather than an SOS-as-default-agent mechanism: a delinquency track and a dissolution track (below). Failing to appoint or maintain a registered agent within 60 days of a resigning agent’s notice makes the LLC ‘delinquent,’ triggering escalating penalties and a filing freeze; separately, lack of a registered agent is its own ground for administrative dissolution, with a 60- or 120-day cure window after notice before a certificate of dissolution issues.
How to change your registered agent
A statement of change is filed with the Illinois Secretary of State under the LLC Act’s own change provisions; a specific dollar fee was not independently confirmed this session.
| Citation | 805 ILCS 180/1-35 (registered office/agent), 1-36 (change), 35-25 (administrative dissolution grounds), 50-15 (delinquency) |
| Confidence | High |
This page covers what Illinois’s own law requires. For the general question of whether you should pay a commercial service or serve as your own agent, see registered agent: do you actually need to pay for one.
Every citation on this page was read directly from the state’s own statute, Secretary of State site, or official filing form this session (or, where that site could not be reached, from an independently cross-checked legal-database mirror of the same codified text, disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; fees and specific procedures can change, and your state’s Secretary of State has the final say for any individual filing.
Related: Illinois’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.