(a) [Sufficiency of debtor's name.]
A financing statement sufficiently provides the name of the debtor:
(1) except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3), if the debtor is a registered organization, or the collateral is held in a trust that is a registered organization, only if the financing statement provides the name that is stated to be the registered organization’s name on the public organic record of most recently filed with or issued or enacted by the registered organization’s jurisdiction of organization which purports to state, amend, or restate the registered organization’s name;
(2) subject to subsection (f), if the collateral is being administered by the personal representative of a decedent, only if the financing statement provides, as the name of the debtor, the name of the decedent and, in a separate part of the financing statement, indicates that the collateral is being administered by a personal representative;
(3) if the collateral is held in a trust that is not a registered organization, only if the financing statement:
(A) provides, as the name of the debtor:
(i) if the organic record of the trust specifies a name for the trust, the name specified; or
(ii) if the organic record of the trust does not specify a name for the trust, the name of the settlor or testator; and
(B) in a separate part of the financing statement:
(i) if the name is provided in accordance with subparagraph (A)(i), indicates that the collateral is held in a trust; or
(ii) if the name is provided in accordance with subparagraph (A)(ii), provides additional information sufficient to distinguish the trust from other trusts having one or more of the same settlors or the same testator and indicates that the collateral is held in a trust, unless the additional information so indicates;
[Alternative A]
(4) subject to subsection (g), if the debtor is an individual to whom this State has issued a [driver’s license] that has not expired, only if the financing statement provides the name of the individual which is indicated on the [driver’s license];
(5) if the debtor is an individual to whom paragraph (4) does not apply, only if the financing statement provides the individual name of the debtor or the surname and first personal name of the debtor; and
(6) in other cases:
(A) if the debtor has a name, only if the financing statement provides the organizational name of the debtor; and
(B) if the debtor does not have a name, only if it provides the names of the partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor, in a manner that each name provided would be sufficient if the person named were the debtor.
(b) [Additional debtor-related information.] A financing statement that provides the name of the debtor in accordance with subsection (a) is not rendered ineffective by the absence of:(1) a trade name or other name of the debtor; or
(2) unless required under subsection (a)(6)(B), names of partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor.
[Alternative B]
(4) if the debtor is an individual, only if the financing statement:
(A) provides the individual name of the debtor;
(B) provides the surname and first personal name of the debtor; or
(C) subject to subsection (g), provides the name of the individual which is indicated on a [driver’s license] that this State has issued to the individual and which has not expired; and
(5) in other cases:
(A) if the debtor has a name, only if the financing statement provides the organizational name of the debtor; and
(B) if the debtor does not have a name, only if the financing statement provides the names of the partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor, in a manner that each name provided would be sufficient if the person named were the debtor.
[End of Alternatives]
(b) [Additional debtor-related information.]
A financing statement that provides the name of the debtor in accordance with subsection (a) is not rendered ineffective by the absence of:
(1) a trade name or other name of the debtor; or
(2) unless required under subsection (a)(4)(B), names of partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor.
(c) [Debtor's trade name insufficient.]
A financing statement that provides only the debtor's trade name does not sufficiently provide the name of the debtor.
(d) [Representative capacity.]
Failure to indicate the representative capacity of a secured party or representative of a secured party does not affect the sufficiency of a financing statement.
(e) [Multiple debtors and secured parties.]
A financing statement may provide the name of more than one debtor and the name of more than one secured party.
The name of the decedent indicated on the order appointing the personal representative of the decedent issued by the court having jurisdiction over the collateral is sufficient as the “name of the decedent” under subsection (a)(2).
(g) [Multiple driver’s licenses.]
If this State has issued to an individual more than one [driver’s license] of a kind described in subsection (a)(4), the one that was issued most recently is the one to which subsection (a)(4) refers.
[Alternative B]
(g) [Multiple driver’s licenses.]
If this State has issued to an individual more than one [driver’s license] of a kind described in subsection (a)(4)(C), the one that was issued most recently is the one to which subsection (a)(4)(C) refers.
[End of Alternatives]
(h) [Definition.]
In this section, the “name of the settlor or testator” means:
(1) if the settlor is a registered organization, the name that is stated to be the settlor’s name on the public organic record most recently filed with or issued or enacted by the settlor’s jurisdiction of organization which purports to state, amend, or restate the settlor’s name; or
(2) in other cases, the name of the settlor or testator indicated in the trust’s organic record.
Legislative Note:
1. This Act contains two alternative sets of amendments relating to the names of individual debtors. A State should enact the same Alternative, A or B, for both subsections (a) and (i) of Section 9-503. A State that enacts Alternative A of the amendments to this section should also enact the amendments to Section 9-502.
2. Both Alternatives refer, in part, to the name as shown on a debtor’s driver’s license. The Legislature should be aware that, in some States, certain characters that may be used by the State’s department of motor vehicles (or similar agency) in the name on a driver’s license may not be accepted by the State’s central or local UCC filing offices under current regulations or internal protocols. This may occur because of technological limitations of the filing offices or merely as a result of inconsistent procedures. Similar issues may exist for field sizes as well. In these situations, perfection of a security interest granted by a debtor with such a driver’s license may be impossible under Alternative A of the amendments and the utility of Alternative B, under which the name on the driver’s license is one of the names that is sufficient, may be reduced. Accordingly, the State may wish to determine if one or more of these issues exist and, if so, to make certain that such issues have been resolved. A successful resolution might be accomplished by statute, agency regulation, or technological change effectuated before or as part of the enactment of this Act.
3. Regardless of which Alternative is enacted, in States in which a single agency issues driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards as an alternative to a driver’s license, such that at any given time an individual may hold either a driver’s license or an identification card but not both, the State should replace each use of the term “driver’s license” with a phrase meaning “driver’s license or identification card” but containing the analogous terms used in the enacting State. In other States, the State should replace the term “driver’s license” with the analogous term used in the enacting State.