SOS - Michigan Search Logic Defined

Michigan Search Logic Defined

Tips for a Trouble Free Search

The Department of State UCC Office maintains a searchable index for all UCC records. A search may be requested to determine whether there are any financing statements naming a particular debtor. A UCC search report consists of all initial financing statements and all related amendments associated with the debtor name requested.

Searches may be requested by regular mail, express mail or in-person. Only expedited account customers may request searches via facsimile at (517) 322-5434. Searches conducted through electronic mail or data interchange are currently not available.

When requesting a debtor name search, follow these simple rules to ensure you get the information you need. It is also your responsibility to determine whether a particular financing statement naming a debtor is presently effective. In addition, the Michigan Department of State UCC Office will not correct spelling or other errors. Debtor names will be searched exactly as they were provided.

From the Michigan Administrative Rules, with clarification added in bold-italic:

R 440.510 Search logic*.

Rule 510. Search results are created by applying standardized search logic to the name presented to the filing officer by the person requesting the search. Human judgment does not play a role in determining the results of the search. All of the following provisions are applied to conduct searches:

(1) The number of matches that may be returned in response to the search criteria is not limited.

Unless the customer restricts the search by completing a search option on the UCC11 form (fields 3a-3h), the customer will receive as many search results matching the search request as are contained in the Michigan document management system.

(b) No distinction is made between upper and lower case letters.

Example: "Smith" equals "SMITH" which equals "smith"; "Consumer Company" equals "CONSUMER COMPANY" which equals "consumer company".

Example: "Brown, Baxter, and Willis" equals "Brown Baxter and Willis"; "Mary/Jones" equals "MaryJones"; "Rene' " equals "Rene"; "René "equals "Ren".

Note: Foreign characters are not recognized and will be treated as accents. Unrecognized characters include but are not limited to: á, æ, ì, ñ, ô, and ü.

Only the letters A to Z in upper or lower case, the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and the symbol &, in any combination, are considered in conducting the search.

"Wesson and Wesson" equals "Wesson & Wesson"; "Two Men and a Truck" does not equal "2 Men and a Truck"; "Jim" does not equal "James"; "Wm" does not equal "William".

(d) Words and abbreviations at the end of a name that indicate the existence or nature of an organization are disregarded, including, but not limited to, any of the following or abbreviations of the following:

Agency
Association, Assn or Assoc
Attorney at Law or Attorneys at Law
Bank or National Bank
Business Trust
Charter or Chartered
Company or Co
Corporation or Corp
Credit Union or CU
Federal Savings Bank or FSB
General Partnership, Gen Part or GP
Incorporated or Inc
Limited, Ltd or Ltee
Limited Liability Company, LC or LLC
Limited Liability Partnership or LLP
Limited Partnership or LP
Medical Doctors Professional Association or MDPA
Medical Doctors Professional Corporation or MDPC
National Association or NA
Partners or Partnership
Professional Association, Prof Assn or PA
Professional Corporation, Prof Corp or PC
Professional Limited Liability Company or Professional Limited Liability Co or PLLC
Railroad or RR
Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT
Registered Limited Liability Partnership or RLLP
Savings Association or SA
Service Corporation or SC
Sole Proprietorship or SP or SPA
Trust or Trustee or As Trustee

Example: "Watching Over You, Inc." equals "Watching Over You, LLC" equals "Watching Over You Company"; "Acme Manufacturing a Michigan Corporation" does not equal "Acme Manufacturing Corporation".

(e) The word "the" at the beginning of the search criteria is disregarded.

Example: "The White House" equals "White House".

(f) All spaces are disregarded.

Example: "River Walk Mansion" equals "Riverwalkmansion".

(g) For first and middle names of individuals, initials are equated with all names that begin with the initials, and no middle name or initial is equated with all middle names and initials.

Example:

*Six Possible Ways a Name May Appear:*	*Search Rule:*	*Possible Search Results:*
*John William Smith*	*Return all records with first name John or J, middle name William, W or no middle name, and last name Smith.*	*John William Smith; John W Smith; J William Smith; J W Smith*
*John W Smith*	*Return all records with first name John or J, middle name W, any middle name beginning with W or no middle name, and last name Smith.*	*John W Smith; J W Smith; John William Smith; John Warren Smith; J William Smith; J Wiley Smith*
*J William Smith*	*Return all records with first name J or any name beginning with J, middle name William, W or no middle name, and last name Smith.*	*J William Smith; J W Smith; John William Smith; James William Smith; James W Smith; Jarred W Smith*
*J W Smith*	*Return all records with first name J or any name beginning with J, middle name W, any name beginning with W or no middle name, and last name Smith.*	*J W Smith; John W Smith; Julia W Smith; John William Smith; Julia Warren Smith; J William Smith; J Winston Smith*
*John Smith*	*Return all records with first name John or J, no middle name or any middle name or initial, and last name Smith.*	*John Smith; J Smith; John A Smith; John B Smith; J A Smith; J B Smith; John William Smith; John Michael Smith; J Charles Smith; J Lawrence Smith*
*J Smith*	*Return all records with first name J or any name beginning with J, no middle name or any middle name or initial, and last name Smith.*	*J Smith; John Smith; Jeremy Smith; J A Smith; J B Smith; Justin Q Smith; Jonathan F Smith; J Michelle Smith; J William Smith; Julia Mary Smith; Jean Presley Smith*

(h) After taking the preceding provisions into account to modify the name of the debtor requested to be searched and to modify the names of debtors contained in unlapsed financing statements in the UCC information management system, the search will reveal only names of active debtors that, as modified, exactly match the name requested, as modified.

Note: Search logic is applied to a query in a specific order: First the query text is converted to all upper case. Then punctuation and accents are removed. Next, noise words are removed. After that, "The" is removed from the beginning of the name. And finally, all remaining spaces are removed.

Example 1: Someone asks for a search on "The WKSC, Inc."

It is converted to upper case: THE WKSC, INC.

The punctuation is removed: THE WKSC INC

Noise words are removed: THE WKSC

"The" is removed from the beginning: WKSC

All remaining spaces are removed: WKSC

The system searches for all names matching: WKSC

Example 2: Someone asks for a search on "The W K S C, Inc."

It is converted to upper case: THE W K S C, INC.

The punctuation is removed: THE W K S C INC

Noise words are removed: THE W K

Note: both "S C" and "INC" are noise words.

"The" is removed from the beginning: W K

All remaining spaces are removed: WK

The system searches for all names matching: WK

*Michigan Administrative Rules search logic is based on IACA Model Administrative Rules (MARs) section 503.