Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

336.9-403 What constitutes filing; duration of filing; effect of lapsed filing; duties of filing officer.

(1) Presentation for filing of a financing statement and tender of the filing fee or acceptance of the statement by the filing officer constitutes filing under this article.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (6) a filed financing statement is effective for a period of five years from the date of filing. The effectiveness of a filed financing statement lapses on the expiration of the five-year period unless a continuation statement is filed prior to the lapse. Upon lapse the security interest becomes unperfected, unless it is perfected without filing. If the security interest becomes unperfected upon lapse, it is deemed to have been unperfected as against a person who became a purchaser or lien creditor before lapse.

(3) A continuation statement may be filed by the secured party within six months prior to the expiration of the five-year period specified in subsection (2). Any such continuation statement must be signed by the secured party, set forth the name, social security number or other tax identification number of the debtor, and address of the debtor and secured party as those items appear on the original financing statement or the most recently filed amendment, identify the original statement by file number and filing date, and state that the original statement is still effective. A continuation statement signed by a person other than the secured party of record must be accompanied by a separate written statement of assignment signed by the secured party of record and complying with subsection (2) of section 336.9-405, including payment of the required fee. Upon timely filing of the continuation statement, the effectiveness of the original statement is continued for five years after the last date to which the filing was effective whereupon it lapses in the same manner as provided in subsection (2) unless another continuation statement is filed prior to such lapse. Succeeding continuation statements may be filed in the same manner to continue the effectiveness of the original statement. Unless a statute on disposition of public records provides otherwise, the filing officer may remove a lapsed statement from the files and destroy it immediately if the officer has retained a copy in a format which meets archival standards, or in other cases after one year after the lapse. The filing officer shall so arrange matters that if the officer physically destroys the financing statements of a period more than five years past, those which have been continued by a continuation statement or which are still effective under subsection (6) shall be retained.

(4) Except as provided in subsection (7) a filing officer shall mark each statement with a file number and with the date and hour of filing and shall hold the statement or a copy in a format that meets archival standards for public inspection. In addition the filing officer shall index the statements according to the name of the debtor and shall note in the index the file number, the address of the debtor given in the statement, and the social security number or other tax identification number of the debtor given in the statement.

(5) The secretary of state shall prescribe uniform forms for statements and samples thereof shall be furnished to all filing officers in the state. The uniform fee for filing and indexing and for stamping a copy furnished by the secured party to show the date and place of filing:

(a) for an original financing statement or statement of continuation on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state, is $15 for up to two debtor names and $15 for each additional name thereafter;

(b) for an original financing statement or statement of continuation that is not on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state, is $20 for up to two debtor names and $20 for each additional name thereafter;

(c) for an amendment on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state that does not add debtor names, is $15;

(d) for an amendment that is not on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state and that does not add debtor names, is $20;

(e) for an amendment on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state that adds more than one debtor name, is $15 per debtor name; and

(f) for an amendment that is not on a standard form prescribed by the secretary of state that adds more than one debtor name, is $20 per debtor name.

In no case will a filing officer accept more than four additional pages per financing statement for filing in the uniform commercial code records.

The secretary of state shall adopt rules for filing, amendment, continuation, termination, removal, and destruction of financing statements.

(6) If the debtor is a transmitting utility (subsection (5) of section 336.9-401) and a filed financing statement so states, it is effective until a termination statement is filed. A real estate mortgage which is effective as a fixture filing under subsection (6) of section 336.9-402 remains effective as a fixture filing until the mortgage is released or satisfied of record or its effectiveness otherwise terminates as to the real estate.

(7) When a financing statement covers timber to be cut or covers minerals or the like (including oil and gas) or accounts subject to subsection (5) of section 336.9-103, or is filed as a fixture filing, it shall be filed for record and the filing officer shall index it under the names of the debtor and any owner of record shown on the financing statement in the same fashion as if they were the mortgagors in a mortgage of the real estate described, and, to the extent that the law of this state provides for indexing of mortgages under the name of the mortgagee, under the name of the secured party as if the secured party were the mortgagee thereunder, or, for filing offices other than the secretary of state, where indexing is by description in the same fashion as if the financing statement were a mortgage of the real estate described.

(8) The fees provided for in this article shall supersede the fees for similar services otherwise provided for by law except in the case of security interests filed in connection with a certificate of title on a motor vehicle.

HIST: 1965 c 811 s 336.9-403; 1976 c 135 s 26; 1981 c 356 s 347; 1984 c 618 s 48; 1985 c 233 s 9; 1985 c 306 s 25; 1Sp1985 c 18 s 5; 1986 c 444; 1989 c 335 art 1 s 215; 1992 c 587 art 1 s 30; 1993 c 48 s 9; 1993 c 369 s 118; 1994 c 438 s 11; 1995 c 128 art 3 s 25; 1997 c 137 s 15

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes