The 2010 Amendments to Article 9 took effect in California, Alabama and Vermont on July 1, 2014. California’s filing office will not offer a grace period for acceptance of old forms, which are forms issued prior to the April 20, 2011 revision date. Vermont will accept old forms until August 1, 2014. Alabama is currently providing an unlimited grace period on the use and acceptance of old forms. Both Vermont and Alabama adopted Alternative A, the “Only If” approach, for individual debtor name sufficiency under §9-503(a)(4).
California, however, adopted a non-uniform version of §9-503(a)(4), which provides that only the “individual name of the debtor” or the “surname and first personal name” of the debtor will be sufficient.
The New York legislature has passed the bill to enact the 2010 Amendments, which has been sent to the Governor. The bill also included Revised Article 1 and Revised Article 7. The bill will take effect upon the Governor’s signature, meaning that secured creditors filing in New York need to be prepared to comply on short notice. New York has also adopted Alternative A, the “Only If” approach.
For more information about Business Law & Litigation, please contact Mindy Sunderland.