Rule 44.6.201 - DEFINING SEARCH CRITERIA FOR UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE CERTIFIED SEARCHES(1) The secretary of state provides information regarding centrally filed uniform commercial code records via requests to office staff and the secretary of state's web site. These certified searches use "standard" search logic as described below.(2) Searches provided by the secretary of state are "exact name" searches. Only the precise name requested, with very little variation, is searched and certified.(3) The basic standards for searching individual and entity names are that:(a) there is no limit to the number of matches that are returned in response to a search request;(b) no distinction is made between upper and lower case letters;(c) punctuation marks and accents are disregarded; and(d) spaces in any field are disregarded.(4) Basic standards for searching individual names include: (a) exact match of surnames and exact match of first names;(b) middle names become an initial or blank space;(c) first names containing only an initial become an exact match to first names beginning with that initial; and(d) suffixes are ignored.(5) Basic standards for searching business names include: (a) an exact match of the name requested;(b) "the" at the beginning of a name is disregarded;(c) words and abbreviations that indicate the existence or nature of an entity are disregarded. These include: (xv) federal credit union;(xvi) federal savings bank;(xix) general partnership;(xxii) joint stock company;(xxviii) limited company;(xxix) limited liability company;(xxx) limited liability limited partnership;(xxxi) limited liability partnership;(xxxii) limited partnership;(xl) national association;(xlvi) professional association;(xlvii) professional corporation;(xlviii) professional limited company;(xlix) professional limited liability company; (I) registered limited liability partnership;(liii) savings association; and(6) A search of the secretary of state's database will not result in accurate findings if: (a) first or last names are misspelled;(b) nonuniversal identifiers are in the name and not included in the search request, such as "a Montana corporation" or "a general partnership";(c) nicknames or shortened versions of names, i.e., if the debtor's first name is filed as "Robert," the search will not result in finding "Bob"; or(d) plurals are used in the search but not in original filing.(7) A search limited to a particular city may not reveal all filings against the debtor searched and the searcher bears the risk of relying on such search.(8) Only one debtor name is permitted per search request form.NEW, 2000 MAR p. 2051, Eff. 7/28/00; AMD, 2002 MAR p. 1668, Eff. 6/14/02; AMD, 2008 MAR p. 2056, Eff. 10/1/08; AMD, 2012 MAR p. 134, Eff. 1/13/12.2-15-404, 30-9A-526, MCA; IMP, 30-9A-516, 30-9A-519, 30-9A-522, 30-9A-526, MCA;