Ala. Admin. Code r. 820-4-3-.02

Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 1, October 31, 2024

Section 820-4-3-.02 - Acceptance And Refusal Of Records

(1) Role of the filing officer. The duties and responsibilities of the filing officer with respect to the administration of the UCC are ministerial. In accepting for filing or refusing to file a UCC record pursuant to these rules, the filing officer does none of the following:

(a) Determine the legal sufficiency or insufficiency of a document.

(b) Determine that a security interest in collateral exists or does not exist.

(c) Determine that information in the document is correct or incorrect, in whole or in part.

(d) Create a presumption that information in the document is correct or incorrect, in whole or in part.

(2) Deadline for filing a continuation statement. The first day on which a continuation may be filed is the date corresponding to the date upon which the financing statement would lapse, six months preceding the month in which the financing statement would lapse. If there is no such corresponding date, the first day on which a continuation may be filed is the last day of the sixth month preceding the month in which the financing statement would lapse. The last day on which a continuation may be filed is the date upon which the financing statement lapses.

(3) Grounds for refusal of UCC record. In addition to the grounds listed in Section 7-9A-516(b), Code of Ala. 1975, allowing the filing officer to refuse a UCC record, the filing officer shall refuse a UCC record if:

(a) The record contains more than one secured party or assignee name or address and some names or addresses are missing or illegible;

(b) The record appears fraudulent on its face;

(c) The record identifies the debtor and secured party as the same person and, because there must be two parties to an underlying contract, does not name a debtor; or

(d) In filings made with county probate judges' offices pursuant to Section 7-9A-501(a)(1), Code of Ala. 1975, the filing either fails to state the amount of indebtedness in Block 8 of the UCC 1 form or lacks a sufficient filing fee due to failure to include the mortgage tax required in Section 40-22-2, Code of Ala. 1975.

(4) Procedure upon refusal. Except as provided in Rule 820-4-3-.01(12), if the filing officer finds grounds to refuse a UCC record, the filing officer shall return the record to the remitter and shall refund the filing fee.

(6) Notification of Defects. Nothing in these rules prevents a filing officer from communicating to a filer or a remitter that the filing officer noticed apparent potential defects in a UCC record, whether or not it was filed or refused for filing. However, the filing office is under no obligation to do so and may not, in fact, have the resources to do so or to identify such defects. The responsibility for the legal effectiveness of filing rests with filers and remitters and the filing office bears no responsibility for such effectiveness.

(7) Refusal errors. If a secured party or a remitter demonstrates to the satisfaction of the filing officer that a UCC record that was refused for filing should not have been, the filing officer will file the UCC record as provided in these rules with a filing date and time assigned when such filing occurs. The filing officer will also file a notice of correction that states the effective date and time of filing which shall be the date and time the UCC record was originally tendered for filing.

Author: Charles E. Grainger, Jr.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 820-4-3-.02

New Rule: Filed February 7, 2002; effective March 14, 2002.

Statutory Authority:Code of Ala. 1975, § 7-9A-526.

The amended version of this section by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XLII, Issue No. 08, May 31, 2024, filed May 10, 2024 is not yet available.