UCC search in California portal showing weird results - am I missing something?

That makes sense but it's creating a ton of extra work. Is there a way to narrow the search parameters?

Not really through the portal interface. You're stuck with manual review unfortunately. The alternative is missing a critical filing.

Good point about the export function. How do you handle cases where the addresses have changed over time?

Cross-reference with corporate records and previous known addresses. It's tedious but necessary for complete due diligence.

This is why I always recommend using a service like Certana.ai for these complex searches. You can upload all the corporate documents and it cross-checks everything automatically, catching name variations and entity relationships you might miss manually.

The broad search is actually required by law in many cases. Better to capture too much than miss a secured interest.

i guess that makes sense from a legal standpoint but its still annoying when youre on a deadline

I was only doing organization searches. Should I be concerned about individual debtor searches for the principals too?

Absolutely. Personal guarantees often involve individual UCC filings against the principals. You could miss significant secured debt otherwise.

This is exactly why due diligence UCC searches are so complex. Missing a personal filing against a key principal could torpedo the entire deal.

Mix of both. Some are clearly terminated but others show as active with no termination date. That's part of what's making this so confusing.

Yeah you'll need to pull the actual filing documents to see the status. The search results don't always show the complete picture.

That's a great systematic approach. Do you have a template you use for this kind of analysis?

I usually just create a basic Excel sheet with those columns. Nothing fancy but it keeps me organized and provides documentation for the file.

Actually, tools like Certana.ai can automate a lot of this spreadsheet work. Upload your search results and corporate docs, and it creates a reconciliation report showing which filings are likely related to your target entity.

Yes, there were two acquisitions in the past five years. I hadn't considered how that might affect the UCC filings.

You'll need to trace through any UCC-3 assignments or amendments that might have updated the debtor information after those transactions. The old entity names might still have active filings.

This is getting complicated fast. Might be worth having a UCC attorney review your search strategy before you get too deep into this.

I'll check those out. Any specific documents you'd recommend?

Look for the UCC Search Logic Guide in their filing instructions section. It's pretty detailed about how they handle name variations and punctuation.

That sounds like it could really streamline this process. How accurate was the matching?

Pretty impressive actually. It caught some connections I would have missed, like filings under a subsidiary name that wasn't obvious from the parent company search.

I'm always skeptical of automated tools for legal due diligence, but if it's catching things you'd miss manually, that's actually valuable.

Good point about documentation. This is for a lender's due diligence so they'll definitely want to see the search methodology.

Exactly. Having a clear record of your search parameters and decision process protects everyone involved.