How often should a registered agent check Sunbiz?

Daily, ideally. Changes can happen anytime — owner changes, amendments, address updates. A professional registered agent service should monitor continuously, not weekly or monthly. If they're not, that's a red flag.

What happens if my registered agent misses a change?

If an officer change, status change, or address update happens on Sunbiz and your agent doesn't notice, you won't know either. This is dangerous for fraudulent agent changes — if your agent checks monthly and a hijacking happens, you lose 30 days of time.

Can a registered agent be held liable for missing changes?

Typically no — but contractually yes. Your agent agreement may include SLAs (service level agreements) that obligate them to monitor and notify. Negligent agents can lose clients when errors are discovered.

What changes should trigger an immediate alert?

Registered agent changes (fraud risk), status changes (dissolution risk), officer changes (unauthorized amendments), and address changes (possible fraud or relocation). These should all generate automated alerts within 24 hours.

How Registered Agents Miss Sunbiz Changes

The gap between what agents claim to monitor and what they actually catch — and what it means for your entity security.

The Monitoring Gap

Most registered agent services claim they "monitor your entity" — but the actual frequency varies wildly:

•Daily monitoring: High-touch premium services or in-house counsel. Rare. Cost: $200+/year per entity.
•Weekly monitoring: Typical for mid-tier registered agents. Changes caught within 7 days.
•Monthly monitoring: Budget agents or virtual services. Changes caught within 30 days — too late for fraud detection.
•No automated monitoring: Some agents wait for clients to ask. You might never know a change happened.

The 24-Hour Vulnerability Window

A registered agent hijacking happens in 24 hours:

Hour 0: Fraudster files Statement of Change

Hour 0–24: Change posts to Sunbiz (automatic, unverified)

Day 1: If your agent checks daily → caught immediately

Day 7: If your agent checks weekly → caught within 7 days

Day 30: If your agent checks monthly → caught within 30 days

Day 60+: If no monitoring → possibly never caught

In fraud cases, the 30-day gap is often fatal — a lawsuit can be served on the fraudulent agent and you won't know for weeks.

What Changes Are Worth Monitoring?

Registered Agent

Hijacking, service of process fraud

CRITICAL

Status

Unauthorized dissolution or revocation

CRITICAL

Officers/Managers

Unauthorized amendments, control transfer

HIGH

Principal Address

Fraud signal, relocation without notice

MEDIUM

Mailing Address

Missing important notices

MEDIUM

Name

Rare but indicates deeper fraud

MEDIUM

The Real Solution: Automated Monitoring

Registered agents have scaling problems — they can't monitor 1,000 client entities daily by hand. Automation is the only way to catch changes within 24 hours across a portfolio.

Monitor Your Entities Free