Montana: LLC Registered-Agent and Registered-Office Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and terminology

Montana splits the rules between the Montana Limited Liability Company Act
in Title 35, chapter 8 and the Model Registered Agents Act in chapter 7.
Both use registered agent. The current domestic-LLC provisions require an
agent and agent address, not a second location separately maintained as a
registered office.

Continuous designation duty

MCA § 35-8-202(1)(d) makes the information required by § 35-7-105(1) part of
the articles of organization. Continuing maintenance appears through the lapse
rule: § 35-8-209(1)(a)(ii) makes 60 days without an appointed and maintained
Montana agent an involuntary-dissolution ground.

Eligible individual

An individual may be a listed commercial agent or a named noncommercial agent.
A noncommercial filing must supply the Montana address required by § 35-7-104:
an actual street address or rural-route box and a different Montana mailing
address, if there is one.

The cited statutes state no separate individual residency, minimum age,
citizenship, professional-license, or numbered daily-availability condition.
A member, manager, owner, or employee may serve individually only by meeting
the ordinary statutory route.

Eligible entity and self-service

A domestic or foreign entity may serve as a noncommercial agent. A domestic or
foreign entity may instead become a commercial agent under MCA § 35-7-102(2)
by filing the listing required by § 35-7-106.

The entity definition includes an LLC, and the noncommercial-agent provision
does not say “another” entity or expressly exclude the represented LLC. Montana
does not, however, include the separate office-or-position designation that
some other Model Registered Agents Act states adopted; § 35-7-105 offers only
the commercial name or a named noncommercial agent and address.

Registered office, address, and hours

There is no separate domestic-LLC registered-office duty. A named
noncommercial agent's filing states an actual Montana street address or rural-
route box and a Montana mailing address if different. An ordinary P.O. box may
serve as mailing information but cannot replace the physical/rural-route field.

A commercial agent's listing supplies the Montana place of business where
process and documents may be delivered. Chapter 7 states no co-location rule
and no exact business-hours window.

Consent and initial filing

The signed articles state the commercial agent's name or the noncommercial
agent's name and address. Under § 35-7-105(2), that appointment is the LLC's
affirmation that the agent consented to serve.

The statute requires no separate initial agent-acceptance statement or agent
signature. The Secretary of State also notifies the agent as soon as practicable
of filings that contain the agent's name.

Change, resignation, and replacement

The LLC changes its agent information through a signed § 35-7-108 statement.
The new appointment affirms consent and takes effect on filing. A noncommercial
agent changing its own name or address files for each represented entity under
§ 35-7-109; that filing also takes effect on filing, and the agent promptly
gives the LLC recorded notice. Commercial-agent changes operate across the
represented entities under § 35-7-110.

Under § 35-7-111, resignation takes effect on the earlier of the 31st day after
filing or appointment of a new agent. The resigning agent promptly gives the LLC
recorded notice of the filing date and has no chapter 7 responsibility for later-
tendered matters after the resignation becomes effective. Termination of a
commercial agent's entire listing follows a separate fixed day-31 rule under
§ 35-7-107.

Agent duties and service

MCA § 35-7-114 limits a compliant agent's chapter duties to forwarding served
process, notices, and demands to the latest company-supplied address; giving the
notices chapter 7 requires; and keeping the applicable noncommercial filing or
commercial listing current. It sets no numbered forwarding deadline.

Section 35-7-113 authorizes the agent to receive written process, notices, and
demands but sends no-agent or unservable-agent cases to the applicable judicial
rules. In district court, Montana Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i) permits service
on the agent and also on specified officers, directors, managers, a member of a
member-managed LLC, other managing/general recipients, or the person in charge
at a Montana office or business place.

Lapse consequences and fallback service

When none of Rule 4(i)'s recipients can be found in Montana after due diligence,
Rule 4(j) requires an affidavit and fee, followed by a clerk's order directing
service on the Secretary of State. The Secretary mails the papers by certified
mail, return receipt requested, to the last-known qualifying recipient. If no
Rule 4(i) person is located and personally served, publication is also required;
service is complete on the last publication. This is not an automatic
Secretary-of-State shortcut merely because the agent is absent.

For entity status, § 35-8-209 first requires either 60 days without an appointed
and maintained agent or 60 days after an unreported agent change. MCA
§ 35-8-914 then requires proposed-dissolution notice by letter or three monthly
publications and gives another 90 days to rectify the ground. Only after that
second period may the Secretary dissolve the LLC. The company then operates
only to wind up and liquidate, while any existing agent authority continues.

What trips people up

Montana did not adopt the office/position option. The commercial and named-
noncommercial routes are exhaustive in § 35-7-105.

Fallback Secretary service requires procedure. Due diligence, an affidavit,
a fee, and a court order precede Secretary-of-State service; publication may
also be necessary.

There are two lapse intervals. A 60-day agent/change failure creates the
ground, and the later proposed-dissolution notice supplies a separate 90-day
cure.

Common questions

Can a member or manager serve? Yes, if the person qualifies as the named
individual noncommercial agent and provides the statutory Montana address.

Can a P.O. box be the only agent address? No. The filing needs an actual
Montana street address or rural-route box, with a different mailing address if
needed.

Does losing the agent block a lawsuit? No. Other Rule 4(i) recipients may be
served, and Rule 4(j) supplies a court-controlled Secretary/publication route
when due diligence cannot locate them.

Statutes and sources

• MCA §§ 35-7-102 and 35-7-104 to -111 — agent types, address, consent,
  commercial listing, change, and resignation.
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0020/0350-0070-0010-0020.html
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• MCA §§ 35-7-113 to -114 — agent authority, judicial-rule fallback, and
  exclusive agent duties.
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0130/0350-0070-0010-0130.html
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• MCA §§ 35-8-201 to -202, 35-8-209, and 35-8-914 — articles, 60-day
  lapse/change ground, notice, 90-day cure, and dissolution consequences.
  https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0080/part_0020/section_0020/0350-0080-0020-0020.html
  (accessed 2026-07-27)
• Montana Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i)-(j) — ordinary LLC recipients and
  due-diligence court-ordered Secretary/publication fallback.
  https://courts.mt.gov/external/rules/civ_proc.pdf (accessed 2026-07-27)