Legal addresses explained: All that you need to know

What does it mean to have a legal address

A legal address refers to the location at which a person or entity is authorized to receive documents filed with courts and administrative agencies, as well as official government correspondence. It is the "address of record" for the purpose of judicial or administrative service and may be different from the place where a person generally lives or does business. A legal address is most commonly a home address (in the case of individuals) or a principal place of business (for corporations).
Although a legal address is generally a home or business address, there are specific legal requirements for establishing, maintaining, and (sometimes) changing a legal address. A legal address may also be referred to as a residence address or a primary business address.
It may not be necessary for lessor-tenant agreements to identify the tenant’s legal address , although doing so may allow the landlord to initiate lawsuits based solely on the legally registered address, under special notice procedures.
A legal address is distinguishable from a mailing address, which is the address to which a person or entity chooses to have its regular mail delivered. A person’s mailing address, for instance, may be a box at a post office rather than a geographic address.
For example, in Texas, registered agents for corporations must maintain the corporation’s legal address with the Secretary of State. Registered agents must file their name, street address, and other information in order to be listed as the legal address for a corporation.

Why do you need a legal address

A legal address is essential in the eyes of the law for you and your business. It is the address where you receive essential information from the government and other organizations. That means the IRS, State Secretary of State and DMV will all use your legal address, which affects your income, taxes and voting status.
When purchasing a home, the address is critical. First, you obtain a mortgage or a deed in your name. That means the deed is recorded with the county and is legal proof of ownership. If the deed was omitted, then your purchase of the home is questionable. Your legal address is what comes up for anyone researching your ability to purchase the property and complete the sale, this affects the title and deed to the property.
As a business owner, you must have legal addresses for the licenses and permits for all properties: office, store, tax and payroll. If you are a sole proprietor, you need a legal address for your business and home. The census and election services rely on your legal address to track you for voting purposes.
When you form a corporation, you need a legal address because your new company is a separate legal entity under the law. If you want to start a limited liability company (LLC), you must submit essential documents to the Secretary of State. You must also pay state taxes to remain compliant and stay in business. Your legal address is where you would receive notifications of all government communications.
Your bank and credit card company may also request your legal address, along with your Social Security number. You must provide a legal address to sell liquor, lottery tickets, or gambling and tobacco machines. The government imposes a lot of regulations on individuals, organizations, and companies. Having a legal address helps you avoid fines, lawsuits, and jail time. If you don’t receive critical communications due to an outdated address, it may be impossible to catch up later because filing deadlines are in the past.
You may have to sign documents related to property sales, such as a warranty deed or title deed. These documents must have a legal address on them to be legally binding. Without a legal address, the paperwork is useless in the event of a challenge to the code or regulations for legal requirements. An attorney will look out for all the legal requirements when you are dealing with property or starting a business. He or she will help you search available legal addresses and ensure your privacy is protected.

How do you set up a legal address

To establish a legal address, there are several steps that must be taken and forms that need to be filed. The specific procedures and documents required to obtain a legal address will vary somewhat depending on the jurisdiction or country, but generally, the following actions are required:
Identify the appropriate authority for your situation. Before you can establish a legal address, you need to determine where to file the necessary documentation. Depending on the purpose of your legal address, primary consideration should be given to who you will be using the address with. For example, if your address is for a business, then you would look at the local or state taxing authority that would be the most likely to request your address in the future.
Determine what action your intended address street needs to accomplish. The means by which you will create a legal address in most cases is dependent on the intended purpose of having that address. For example, assume you want to establish a legal address for voting purposes. You would contact your local election office to find out how you are required to register for voting.
Prepare the necessary paperwork and submit them to the appropriate local authority. Once you have identified the local authority, you need to find out what paperwork you need to submit to request the creation of a legal address. In the previous example of establishing a voting address, you would fill out and submit a voter registration form. Next, you would wait for confirmation that your address has been established. You can generally request this in writing if you wish to keep a record in case the government agency requests it again in the future.

Legal address versus domicile

A legal address is different than domicile. Your home address may be your legal address, but domicile is something different. A domicile is the country or state that you permanently reside in and is derived from the place you have an established true, fixed, and permanent home and is used as your legal home.
The legal element of domicile attaches the home to the community and your ability to form a residence in that community. More simply – your legal address is where you live and your domicile is where you call permanent home. It’s generally where you vote, pay taxes, and are subject to criminal prosecutions.
Losing your domicile in a state or country is a difficult task. If you wish to move from California to Texas, you’ll have to satisfy a judge that your move is genuine. The same applies to within the U.S. – if your domicile is Georgia, you won’t be able to change it to Florida on a whim. You’ll need some legal documentation to show you intend to be in Florida for an extended amount of time before you can file for divorce or other concerns.
In general, tax obligations are based around domicile, however, a legal address has merit in where you file your taxes to . For instance, if you filed for inheritance taxes in Rhode Island and your legal address was in Connecticut, you could wind up owing taxes in both states. More often than not, the states will work with one another to determine what state has higher taxes, but there is the possibility of having to pay taxes in both states.
The legal address, or the address that you put down on legal documentation, does not have to be the same as your domicile. This comes into play with things like jury duty or voting. An example of this would be if someone spends part of the year in a different state or travels often for work, despite having an apartment or home in their home county. If you live in D.C. but your home county is Fairfax County, Virginia, your domicile may be D.C. even if your legal address is a Virginia P.O. Box.
As stated above, to change your legal address, you must prove that your filed documentation was an honest mistake. Jurisdiction will usually side with your home state for legal matters, so if you filed a petition in San Jose instead of Jacksonville, you’ll need to provide the court documentation stating how this was an error (i.e. you were just in San Jose at the time and didn’t mean to file the paperwork there).

Updating your legal address

You may change your legal address at any time after moving, but the burden is on you to communicate the new address to relevant parties. Always provide notice of your address change to every agency or service provider that needs to notify or locate you.
Although many legal agencies use an electronic notification service that works by entering you into a public database, it still requires an address change from the individual to trigger an update. If you fail to keep this updated, then you may be receiving malfeasance notifications and alerts even after you’ve moved. This can leave you at risk of financial fraud if someone had the bad intentions of using your accounts or sensitive information to compromise and commit fraudulent activities.
Ensure that you reach out to government entities like the DMV, IRS, and other similar agencies to help minimize legal repercussions that may ensue.
Being late on reporting a change of address does not mean that the matter will not be pursued by your local authorities. In fact, there may be a legal penalty for failing to do so within a specific time period. For example, New York in particular has very strict rules about mail-forwarding services:
"Form 8822 must be filed within 60 days from when the post office has your mail forwarded to your new address. Failure to do either of these to update the IRS with your new address will be considered a failure to pay and can be subject to a $50 penalty."
Any time the United States Postal Services ends your mail forwarding service without any warnings, the court system will consider the address change known. Your juror qualification form response will also be entered into the public record, even though no law actually requires it. To avoid issues, respond to any mail and correspondence that arrives at your prior address and inform them of your new address.
It is also important to keep in mind that if you were to move while you were on parole, your parole officer should be notified. Instructions would apply for your parole conditions requiring you to seek approval for the new home and verifying your new address.

Legal address for businesses

A legal address is the address your company uses for all business transactions with the state. This includes your registered agent and any court notices or correspondence the company might receive. This address should match the address on your Articles of Organization, if applicable. It should also be a physical address that accurately reflects where the company is doing business. A P.O. Box does not meet these criteria and should not be used as a legal address.
Having an accurate legal address is important for any business. You don’t want to miss out on potential communications with the state, which could end up delaying your business’s registration or result in costly fines and legal action .
The legal address for a business is not the same thing as your registered agent’s address. A registered agent is a third-party service that receives correspondence on behalf of your business. However, a legal address is simply the place where that third-party service receives business correspondence. You should not direct communications to your registered agent unless your registered agent is also your legal address, which many modern registered agent services are.
For an LLC that does business under its legal name and doesn’t plan to change its name, the company name will likely (and should) be the same as your legal address.
If your business has a physical location, that address will be the proper legal address.