How to Fill Out and File a Delaware UCC-1 Financing Statement

To file a Delaware UCC-1 financing statement, submit it electronically through the state’s eUCC web application for a $50 fee, or route it through an authorized filer for $100. Delaware stopped accepting paper filings in December 2015, so those are your only two paths.¹ The filing itself is quick. Getting the debtor’s name exactly right, and confirming Delaware is actually the correct state, is where the work lives.

Confirm Delaware Is the Right State

A UCC-1 filed in the wrong state does nothing. The lien won’t appear in the index other creditors search, and your priority claim is unenforceable.

Where you file depends on the debtor’s legal location, not where the collateral sits or where the lender does business. For a corporation, LLC, or other registered organization formed under Delaware law, Delaware is the correct state even if the company operates entirely elsewhere. For an individual debtor, you file in the state of their principal residence. An organization that isn’t a registered entity, such as a general partnership, files where its chief executive office is located, or at its sole place of business if it has only one.²

Before you fill in a single field, verify that Delaware is the debtor’s jurisdiction of organization or principal residence.

What the Form Must Contain

Delaware accepts the national standard UCC-1 form (sometimes called the IACA form) as well as any other written form that includes the required content: debtor name and address, secured party name and address, and a collateral description.¹ The national form is the only standardized UCC form the state will accept in writing.³

Debtor Name

The debtor’s name is where most UCC filings go wrong, and Delaware’s statute is unforgiving. For a registered organization, the name on the financing statement must match the name shown on the entity’s public organic record, meaning the certificate of formation, articles of incorporation, or equivalent document filed with the state of organization.⁴ Exact spelling. Exact punctuation. Exact spacing. “ABC Industries LLC” is not the same as “ABC Industries, LLC” if the comma appears on the formation document. A mismatch can be deemed seriously misleading, which effectively kills the lender’s priority.

For an individual debtor, Delaware law provides three acceptable formats: the individual’s name, the debtor’s surname and first personal name, or the name shown on an unexpired driver’s license or identification card issued by the state of Delaware.⁴ When the debtor holds a current Delaware-issued ID, using the name exactly as it appears on that ID is the safest approach because it eliminates ambiguity about which version is correct.

The form also requires you to check a box indicating whether the debtor is an individual or an organization. A sole proprietorship counts as an individual, not an organization, even if the business operates under a trade name. And a trade name is never sufficient by itself. You must always provide the debtor’s actual legal name.⁴

Secured Party and Collateral

The secured party section requires a full legal name and mailing address for the lender or its representative. Omitting either triggers rejection.

The collateral description can range from broad to narrow. “All assets” or “all personal property” is legally valid for many commercial loans. Equipment financing often lists specific serial numbers. Inventory-backed lending typically describes the collateral by category. The description should match or track the language in the underlying security agreement. An overly narrow description risks leaving some collateral unprotected.

Authorization

A secured party cannot file a UCC-1 without the debtor’s authorization, but in practice the debtor provides it by signing the security agreement. A separate signed agreement covering the same collateral automatically authorizes the filing of a financing statement.⁵ You don’t need a separate authorization form, and the debtor doesn’t sign the UCC-1. If someone later challenges whether authorization existed, the secured party bears the burden, so keep the signed security agreement on file.

How to Submit the Filing

Delaware offers two electronic submission paths. The state does not accept paper filings by mail, courier, or fax.¹

eUCC web application. The state’s own portal at icis.corp.delaware.gov lets you enter the financing statement data directly and submit it to the Division of Corporations. This is the cheapest option at $50 per filing, regardless of page count.⁶
Authorized UCC filer. Service companies approved by the Division of Corporations submit filings through XML connections to the state’s system. The fee is $100 for documents up to four pages, plus $2 for each page beyond four. If you have a paper document you want on file, an authorized filer will enter the data electronically on your behalf. The Division publishes the approved list on its website.⁷

Web filings typically require payment by credit card or a pre-funded account with the Division of Corporations. Once the Division accepts the filing, it returns a file-stamped acknowledgment with a unique file number and the exact date and time of recording. That timestamp sets your priority position against competing creditors.

Expedited Service

For transactions that can’t wait, Delaware offers tiered expedited surcharges on top of the base fee:

Next-day service: $100 (filing must arrive by 7:00 p.m. ET).
Same-day service: $200 (filing must arrive by 2:00 p.m. ET).
Two-hour service: $500 (filing must arrive by 7:00 p.m. ET).
One-hour service: $1,000 (filing must arrive by 9:00 p.m. ET).

One-hour and two-hour turnarounds are common in commercial real estate closings and M&A deals where priority can shift in minutes.⁸

Why Filings Get Rejected

Delaware’s filing office will only refuse a record on the specific grounds listed in the statute. The Division will reject a UCC-1 if:

The filing is not submitted through an authorized electronic method.
The filing fee is missing or insufficient.
The record does not provide the debtor’s name.
An individual debtor’s surname is not separately identified.
The debtor’s mailing address is missing.
The record does not indicate whether the debtor is an individual or an organization.
The secured party’s name and mailing address are missing.

⁵

Notice what’s not on the list. The filing office will not reject a statement because the debtor’s name is misspelled, the collateral description is vague, or the secured party’s address is outdated. The office indexes what you submit. That’s the trap for careless filers: the state will happily record a financing statement with the wrong debtor name, and you won’t find out it’s unenforceable until another creditor challenges your priority. If the fee is short, the filing office returns the document and won’t file it until the full amount is received and the record resubmitted.⁹

Keeping the Filing Alive

A Delaware UCC-1 stays effective for five years from the date of filing.¹⁰ If the five-year period expires without renewal, the filing lapses and the security interest becomes unperfected. A creditor who filed later but maintained their filing then outranks you.

To prevent a lapse, file a UCC-3 continuation statement during the six-month window before expiration. File it one day too early, meaning more than six months before expiration, and it’s ineffective. File it one day late and the original filing has already lapsed, so there’s nothing left to continue.¹⁰ Each successful continuation extends the filing another five years.

The Delaware Secretary of State does not send reminders. Creditors are entirely responsible for calendaring these dates. Put the renewal window on your calendar the day you receive the initial filing acknowledgment.

Search Before You File

Before submitting a new UCC-1, search the Delaware UCC index to check whether competing liens already exist against the debtor’s assets. Delaware routes most searches through its network of authorized searchers, certified service companies that access the state’s UCC information system and return official results.¹¹ The Division of Corporations publishes the list of authorized searchers on its website. Searches run through these agents are certified and carry the weight of an official state record.

If another creditor already has a perfected security interest in the same collateral, your new filing will rank behind theirs regardless of when your loan was made. Knowing that before you commit lets you negotiate or restructure the collateral package instead of discovering the problem at enforcement.

1
Delaware Division of Corporations. Uniform Commercial Code
2
Legal Information Institute. UCC 9-307 – Location of Debtor
3
Delaware Division of Corporations. UCC Forms
4
Justia Law. Delaware Code 6-9-503 – Name of Debtor and Secured Party
5
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 6 Commerce and Trade – Subchapter V
6
Delaware Division of Corporations. Welcome to e-UCC
7
Delaware Division of Corporations. UCC Filing and Expedited Fees
8
Delaware Division of Corporations. Expedited Services
9
Delaware Division of Corporations. Administrative Rules of the Uniform Commercial Code
10
Justia Law. Delaware Code 6-9-515 – Duration and Effectiveness of Financing Statement; Effect of Lapsed Financing Statement
11
Delaware Division of Corporations. UCC Search