Who May Accept Service on Behalf of a Texas Corporation, LLC, or Partnership (BOC § 5.255)
Under the Texas Business Organizations Code (BOC), every domestic filing entity and every foreign filing entity registered to transact business in Texas is required by BOC § 5.201 to continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Texas. In addition to serving the registered agent, BOC § 5.255 designates specific governing persons who are statutory agents of the entity for service of process:
• For a Domestic or Foreign Corporation (BOC § 5.255(1)): The president and each vice president of the corporation are agents authorized to receive service of process.
• For a Domestic or Foreign Limited Liability Company / LLC (BOC § 5.255(3)): Each manager (in a manager-managed LLC) or each member (in a member-managed LLC) is an authorized agent for service of process.
• For a Limited Partnership (BOC § 5.255(2)): Each general partner is an authorized agent.
• For a General Partnership (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 17.022): Citation served on one member of a partnership authorizes a judgment against the partnership and the partner actually served.
Serving Major Commercial Registered Agent Hubs in Dallas and Austin
Our JBCC-certified process servers execute daily hand-delivery routes to the eight primary commercial registered agent hubs in Dallas County and Travis County:
1. C T Corporation System / National Registered Agents, Inc. (NRAI): 1999 Bryan Street, Suite 900, Dallas, TX 75201.
2. Cogency Global Inc.: Thanksgiving Tower, 1601 Elm Street, Suite 4360, Dallas, TX 75201.
3. Corporation Service Company (d/b/a CSC-Lawyers Incorporating Service Company): 211 East 7th Street, Suite 620, Austin, TX 78701.
4. Registered Agents Inc. (RAI): 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78731 (Note: RAI is a completely separate legal entity from Northwest Registered Agent—never conflate the two on your citation or return!).
5. Northwest Registered Agent, LLC: 5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78731.
6. InCorp Services, Inc.: 815 Brazos Street, Suite 500, Austin, TX 78701.
7. Registered Agent Solutions, Inc. (RASi): 1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78744.
8. BizFilings (Wolters Kluwer): 701 Brazos Street, Suite 720, Austin, TX 78701.
Need JBCC-Certified Service Under Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code §§ 5.201, 5.251–5.255 & TRCP 106/107?
Upload your PDF pleadings online—Standard ($69), Rush ($119), or Same-Day ($169) across all 254 Texas counties.
Strict Compliance Trap: Corporate RegisteredAgents Must Be Served Through an Authorized Individual
Under Texas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals precedent (such as Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD and Asset Protection & Security Services, L.P. v. Armijo), when a corporation or LLC designates another organization (like C T Corporation System, CSC, or Northwest Registered Agent, LLC) as its registered agent, the TRCP Rule 107 Return of Service MUST show that the citation was delivered to the corporate registered agent by naming the individual person authorized to receive service on behalf of that registered agent organization (for example: 'Delivered to ABC Widget LLC, by delivering to its Registered Agent, C T Corporation System, by delivering to [Full Name], Authorized Intake Specialist').
If a Return of Service merely states 'Delivered to C T Corporation System' without identifying the individual human being who accepted delivery on CT Corp's behalf, a default judgment can be reversed on a Restricted Appeal! Every Return of Service prepared by Process Servers Texas strictly follows this two-tier naming protocol.
Substituted Service on the Texas Secretary of State (BOC § 5.251) & Whitney Certificates
What happens when an individual registered agent has moved away from the registered office address on file with the Texas Secretary of State, or the suite is vacant/locked during normal business hours? Under Texas Business Organizations Code § 5.251(1)(B), the Texas Secretary of State becomes the entity's statutory agent for service of process whenever 'the registered agent of the entity cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the registered office of the entity.'
CRITICAL TEXAS DILIGENCE RULE: Before serving the Secretary of State under BOC § 5.251(1)(B), the process server must actually attempt service at the registered office address on file and document on the Return/Affidavit the specific diligent attempts made showing why the registered agent could not be found at the registered office! Once reasonable diligence is documented, our Austin couriers deliver duplicate copies of the Citation and Petition plus the $40 statutory fee directly to the Texas Secretary of State Service of Process Section at the James E. Rudder Building, 1019 Brazos Street, Room 105, Austin, TX 78701—and subsequently obtain the mandatory $15 'Whitney Certificate' proving the SOS forwarded the process by certified mail.
Serving Series LLCs, Limited Partnerships, and Unincorporated Associations in Texas
Texas business litigation frequently involves complex entity structures such as Texas Series LLCs (governed by Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 101.601 et seq.), family limited partnerships, and foreign oil-and-gas joint ventures. When serving a protected series or registered series of a Texas LLC, BOC § 101.620 provides that service of process on the series may be made by serving the registered agent of the master limited liability company or any manager/member associated with that specific series, provided the citation clearly names both the master LLC and the specific series being sued.
Whether your target is a Delaware corporation registered at 1999 Bryan Street in Dallas or a local construction LLC in Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, or Midland, our JBCC-certified team verifies the active SOSDirect entity record before dispatch.