How long does my business actually have to respond after being sued?

Your business generally has thirty calendar days to file a formal response, and critically, this deadline runs from the date your registered agent is actually served with the lawsuit, not from whenever the paperwork physically makes its way to you personally. A registered agent is the specific individual or company designated with the Secretary of State to receive legal documents, including lawsuits, on your business entity's behalf.

If your registered agent on file happens to be an outdated contact, say an accountant you no longer work with or a registered agent service you stopped paying for, your response clock may already be running without your personal knowledge, potentially burning valuable days before you even learn a lawsuit exists. Checking your current Secretary of State filing today and correcting your registered agent information if it's out of date is a simple, immediate step worth taking regardless of whether you're currently facing a lawsuit.