UCC Article 9 Florida debtor name requirements causing filing rejections
Need urgent help with UCC Article 9 Florida requirements. Our law firm has been getting multiple UCC-1 filings rejected by Florida SOS over the past month and I'm starting to panic. The rejections keep citing "debtor name does not match exactly" but we're pulling names directly from the Articles of Incorporation. Specific issue: We have a client whose corporate name is "Advanced Manufacturing Solutions, LLC" on their Articles, but their operating agreement shows "Advanced Manufacturing Solutions LLC" (no comma). The Florida portal rejected our UCC-1 three times now. First rejection said name didn't match corporate records, second said we needed the exact corporate name, third said our amendment was improper. I've read UCC Article 9 Florida statutes but the debtor name requirements seem inconsistent with what the portal actually accepts. Has anyone dealt with this specific comma issue in Florida? We have a $2.8M equipment financing deal that's been delayed two weeks because of this and the lender is getting frustrated. Does Florida follow the "seriously misleading" standard or do they require character-by-character matching? The UCC Article 9 Florida guidelines online aren't clear about punctuation rules.
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Jungleboo Soletrain
Florida is notoriously strict about debtor names. I've seen this exact comma issue before - they require the name exactly as it appears on the Articles of Incorporation filed with Florida Department of State. The comma matters to their system even though UCC Article 9 Florida doesn't explicitly address punctuation in the statutes.
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Rajan Walker
•This is so frustrating. We had a similar issue last month with a period vs no period in "Inc" vs "Inc." - Florida rejected it twice before we got it right.
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Nadia Zaldivar
•Yeah Florida's system is super picky. I always pull the exact name from Sunbiz.org corporate search now to avoid these issues.
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Lukas Fitzgerald
For UCC Article 9 Florida filings, you need to use the EXACT name from the Articles of Incorporation, including all punctuation. The operating agreement name doesn't matter - only what's on file with Florida SOS. Pull it from Sunbiz.org and copy it character for character. Also make sure you're not using any extra spaces.
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Anna Xian
•Thanks! I checked Sunbiz and it shows the comma. So "Advanced Manufacturing Solutions, LLC" is correct. Should I file a new UCC-1 or can I amend the existing rejected one?
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Lukas Fitzgerald
•File a new UCC-1. Once they reject it, you can't amend a rejected filing. The rejection means it was never accepted in the first place.
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Ev Luca
I had constant issues with Florida UCC filings until I started using Certana.ai's document verification tool. You can upload your Articles of Incorporation and your UCC-1 draft, and it instantly flags any name mismatches before you submit. Saved me tons of rejected filings and angry clients. Just upload the PDFs and it cross-checks everything automatically.
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Avery Davis
•Never heard of Certana.ai - is it specifically for UCC filings?
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Ev Luca
•It's designed for document verification across various filing types. The UCC workflow is really smooth - you upload your corporate docs and UCC forms and it catches inconsistencies immediately.
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Collins Angel
•That sounds useful. I spend way too much time manually comparing names across documents.
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Marcelle Drum
UCC Article 9 Florida is such a pain compared to other states. The "seriously misleading" test should apply but Florida seems to ignore it and go for exact matching. I've had clients lose financing deals over comma placement.
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Tate Jensen
•Florida SOS is the worst. They rejected our filing because the LLC had "Limited Liability Company" in the Articles but we used "LLC" on the UCC-1.
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Adaline Wong
•That's ridiculous. Most states would consider those equivalent under the seriously misleading standard.
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Gabriel Ruiz
Pro tip for UCC Article 9 Florida filings: always do a test search in their UCC database using the exact name you plan to file. If it doesn't match existing corporate records, it'll get rejected. The search function uses the same matching logic as their filing system.
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Misterclamation Skyblue
•Good point. I never thought to test it in their search first.
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Peyton Clarke
•The search trick works great. If you can't find the entity with your proposed name, neither can their filing system.
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Vince Eh
Question about UCC Article 9 Florida continuations - do they have the same strict name matching requirements? I have some continuations coming up and want to avoid similar issues.
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Sophia Gabriel
•Yes, continuations need to match the debtor name exactly as it appears on the original UCC-1. If the original was filed with the wrong name, you might need to file a UCC-3 amendment first.
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Tobias Lancaster
•I learned this the hard way. My continuation got rejected because the debtor changed their name after the original filing but I didn't update the UCC-1 first.
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Ezra Beard
Florida's interpretation of UCC Article 9 debtor name rules is stricter than most states. They basically ignore the "seriously misleading" standard and require exact character matching. It's frustrating but at least it's consistent once you know their rules.
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Statiia Aarssizan
•Consistent is generous. I've seen them accept filings with minor differences sometimes but reject others for the same issue.
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Reginald Blackwell
•Yeah their consistency is questionable. Seems to depend on which clerk processes it.
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Aria Khan
After years of dealing with Florida UCC filings, I now use a verification tool for every filing. Certana.ai has saved me so much time - I upload the corporate docs and UCC forms and it instantly spots name mismatches, missing info, everything. No more rejected filings from stupid mistakes.
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Everett Tutum
•How accurate is their verification? I'm tired of manual checking.
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Aria Khan
•Very accurate. It caught a middle initial discrepancy I missed that would have definitely been rejected. Much better than trying to spot differences manually.
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Sunny Wang
The UCC Article 9 Florida name matching issue is getting worse. I think they updated their system to be even more strict about punctuation and spacing. Had two filings rejected last week for extra spaces.
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Hugh Intensity
•Extra spaces? That's ridiculous. The UCC code doesn't require that level of precision.
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Effie Alexander
•Florida doesn't care what the UCC code says apparently. They have their own interpretation.
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Melissa Lin
UPDATE: Filed a new UCC-1 with the exact name from Sunbiz including the comma and it was accepted! Thanks everyone for the help. The $2.8M deal is back on track. Definitely going to use document verification software going forward to avoid this stress.
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Lydia Santiago
•Great news! Florida can be such a nightmare but at least you got it resolved.
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Romeo Quest
•Glad it worked out. Those big financing deals make the stress so much worse when filings get rejected.
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Val Rossi
•Congrats on getting it through. The verification software idea is smart - better safe than sorry with Florida's pickiness.
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