How Service of Process Works for Maryland Businesses

When someone sues your Maryland LLC or corporation, they don't email you — a process server, sheriff, or private courier delivers the paperwork by hand to whoever SDAT has on record as your resident agent. That single moment is service of process, and it's the reason the resident agent requirement exists in the first place.

What Shows Up as Service of Process

• Summons and complaints that open a civil lawsuit
• Subpoenas requesting testimony or business records
• Garnishment notices tied to a judgment
• Restraining orders and court injunctions
• Formal notices from a state agency or the Maryland courts

Once these papers are delivered, your response deadline starts ticking, usually measured in weeks, not months. Miss it and a Maryland court can enter a default judgment before you ever say a word in your defense.

Why SDAT Requires a Maryland Resident Agent

Every LLC, corporation, and foreign-qualified entity on file with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation must keep a resident agent listed at a physical Maryland address, staffed during business hours. The rule exists so the courts always have a dependable place to deliver papers — a case doesn't stall just because the owner was traveling.

What We Do the Day Something Is Served

1. Our office signs for the delivery when it arrives during business hours.
2. The document is scanned in full that same business day.
3. You get an email alert the moment the scan posts to your portal.
4. The scan stays stored permanently in your online account, ready whenever you need it again.
5. Prefer the physical original in hand rather than just the scan? We can mail it to you for a separate per-piece fee — that's not bundled into the $99/year base price.

Legal delivery has no yearly limit under our plan. That's separate from the small annual allowance we extend for routine SDAT correspondence.

The Risk of Listing Yourself

Naming yourself as your own resident agent puts your home or office address into SDAT's public entity search, permanently. It also means committing to being at that address, in person, every business day the entity exists. Miss a delivery attempt because you were in a meeting or on vacation, and the lawsuit can proceed without you — reversing a default judgment afterward typically means paying a lawyer to ask the court for a second chance, with no promise it's granted.

What's Included

• A Maryland address staffed during business hours, standing in for yours on the public record
• Same-day scanning of anything delivered, with no cap on legal documents
• Immediate email notice plus permanent storage in your portal
• Reminders ahead of the April 15 Personal Property Tax Return deadline
• One $99/year fee — accepting and scanning service of process is included, not billed separately

Quick Answers

Do you accept deliveries outside business hours? No — our office keeps standard Maryland business hours, which is what SDAT expects of a resident agent.

What about mail that isn't a lawsuit? SDAT notices and other routine correspondence go through the same scan-and-email process, though the no-charge allowance for that kind of general government mail is capped at three pieces a year. Legal service itself carries no cap.

Can I switch agents while a case is active? Yes. File the resident agent change form with SDAT any time. Anything already delivered to your prior agent still counts as valid service, regardless of the switch.

Want a Maryland resident agent standing between your business and a missed deadline?

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Still have questions? Visit our FAQ or contact us.

Not Legal Advice

This page explains how service of process generally works in Maryland and how our office handles it — it isn't legal advice for your specific situation. If you've been served with legal papers, talk to a licensed Maryland attorney right away. We provide resident agent services only and do not practice law.