Updated September 6, 2026. Quick answer: In South Carolina, this role is called an agent for service of process (statute), commonly called ‘registered agent’, governed by S.C. Code Ann. Section 33-44-108 (designated office and agent for service of process), Section 33-44-109 (change), Section 33-44-103 (Secretary of State as default agent when none or can’t be found), Section 33-44-809 (administrative dissolution; unpaid fees/taxes only). South Carolina is unusually narrow: its sole statutory administrative-dissolution trigger is unpaid fees/taxes, not a missing registered agent, in contrast to states like Oregon where a missing agent is itself an explicit standalone dissolution ground.
What the address rule requires
The LLC must designate and continuously maintain in South Carolina an office (which need not be a place of business) and an agent with a ‘street address’ for service of process (Section 33-44-108); the statute requires a street address but does not, in the text obtained, explicitly discuss or prohibit a P.O. box.
Who can serve as your registered agent
An individual resident of South Carolina, a domestic corporation, another limited liability company, or a foreign corporation or foreign company authorized to do business in South Carolina (Section 33-44-108(b)). The enumerated categories do not include the LLC naming itself.
What happens if you don’t have one
If an LLC fails to appoint or maintain an agent for service of process, or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the agent’s address, the Secretary of State is an agent of the company upon whom process may be served; service is made by delivering duplicate copies to the Secretary of State, who forwards one copy by registered or certified mail to the company’s designated office (Section 33-44-103). South Carolina’s administrative dissolution statute (Section 33-44-809) authorizes dissolution only for failure to pay a fee, tax, or penalty within 60 days after it is due; lacking a registered agent is not itself listed as a dissolution ground; instead the Secretary of State simply becomes the default agent for service under Section 33-44-103.
How to change your registered agent
$10.00 to file a Notice of Change of Designated Office, Agent or Address of Registered Agent for a domestic or foreign LLC. (source: South Carolina Secretary of State, Business Entities Online official downloadable form (Notice of Change under Section 33-44-109))
This page covers what South Carolina’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: South Carolina’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.