Okla. Stat. tit. 12A § 1-9-515
Okla. Stat. tit. 12A, § 1-9-515
Oklahoma Code Comment
This section is derived from former section 9-403(2), (3), (6) and provides rules concerning the length of perfection, when perfection lapses, the effect of a lapse on the secured party of record, the proper method to continue an Initial Financing Statement, and exceptions to these rules. The general rule is unchanged from old Article 9: A financing statement is effective for a five year period unless its effectiveness is continued or the filing is earlier terminated. See also Oklahoma Comment to section 9-510 .
Issues not previously addressed in former section 9-403 , which are now part of section 9-515, include setting the period of effectiveness for manufactured housing not covered by a certificate of title (irrelevant in Oklahoma, where perfection is by certificate of title) and public-finance transactions (filed in the Oklahoma Central Filing Office) at 30 years from the date of the initial filing. Section 9-515 also subjects the perfection of agricultural liens to the type of financing statements that are effective for a period of five years unless properly continued. In addition, section 9-515 reiterates that a financing statement may be continued, at the earliest, six months prior to lapse.
Note that the time period for filing a continuation statement, and the effective life of the continuing perfection that results, as calculated under revised section 9-515, continue to be crucial as under prior law and are not changed by revised Article 9. Miscalculation of these time periods can cause inadvertent loss of perfection. See revised section 9-515(c), (d), (e); William E. Carroll and Alvin C. Harrell, UCC Section 9-403 and the Continuing Saga of Continuation Statements, 48 Consumer Fin. L.Q. Rep. 88 (1994); William E. Carroll and Alvin C. Harrell, Casenote: The Care and Feeding of Continuation Statements, 44 Consumer Fin. L.Q. Rep. 144 (1990).
Finally, it should be noted that the old rule of former section 9-403(2) , to lling the Article 9 lapse period during insolvency proceedings, was not carried forward into revised Article 9. This may require the secured party to seek relief from the automatic stay in bankruptcy ( 11 U.S.C. section 362 ) in order to continue its perfection under Article 9. However, see also 11 U.S.C. section 108 (extension of time in bankruptcy) which may toll the lapse period for purposes of bankruptcy.
In a situation where a financing statement has been filed prior to July 1, 2001, and revised Article 9 changes the correct filing office with respect to that debtor and type of collateral, section 9-705(f) makes clear that it will not be possible to file a continuation statement anywhere, after June 30, 2001, for the purpose of making the first extension after June 30, 2001, of that financing statement's effectiveness. Instead, if a financing statement was filed before July 1, 2001, and the correct filing office with respect to that debtor and type of collateral has changed, the only method of making the first continuation of that financing statement after June 30, 2001, will be to file a special Initial Financing Statement (not a continuation statement) in the newly correct filing office, as provided in section 9-706 .
Section 9-705(f) covers another situation, where an initial financing statement has been filed before July 1, 2001, in a filing office that continues to be the correct place for making a filing after June 30, 2001, with respect to that debtor and type of collateral. In this case, revised Article 9 requires the filing of a continuation statement in the same filing office, after June 30, 2001, in order to extend the effectiveness of the previously filed financing statement. However, the special transition rule in section 9-705(f) provides that the first continuation statement filed after June 30, 2001, will not be effective unless it also appropriately supplements the information contained in a financing statement filed before July 1, 2001. The two filings (the financing statement filed before July 1, 2001, plus the continuation statement that includes additional information) together must satisfy revised Article 9's requirements for an Initial Financing Statement. A secured party not familiar with the transition rules may be completely unaware that an otherwise ordinary continuation statement needs to be modified in this manner.
Of course, any financing statement first filed after June 30, 2001, must be made in the filing office required by revised Article 9, must contain all items of information required by revised Article 9, and then can be continued by filing an ordinary continuation statement in the same filing office, without need to provide supplemental information.