District of Columbia Code
Subpart 1 - Filing Office; Contents and Effectiveness of Financing Statement
§ 28:9–503. Name of debtor and secured party

(a) A financing statement sufficiently provides the name of the debtor:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection, if the debtor is a registered organization or the collateral is held in a trust that is a registered organization, only if the financing statement provides the name that is stated to be the registered organization’s name on the public organic record most recently filed with or issued or enacted by the registered organization’s jurisdiction of organization which purports to state, amend, or restate the registered organization’s name;
(2) Subject to subsection (f) of this section, if the collateral is being administered by the personal representative of a decedent, only if the financing statement provides, as the name of the debtor, the name of the decedent and, in a separate part of the financing statement, indicates that the collateral is being administered by a personal representative;
(3) If the collateral is held in a trust that is not a registered organization, only if the financing statement:
(A) Provides, as the name of the debtor:
(i) If the organic record of the trust specifies a name for the trust, the name specified; or
(ii) If the organic record of the trust does not specify a name for the trust, the name of the settlor or testator; and
(B) In a separate part of the financing statement:
(i) If the name is provided in accordance with subparagraph (A)(i) of this paragraph, indicates that the collateral is held in a trust; or
(ii) If the name is provided in accordance with subparagraph (A)(ii) of this paragraph, provides additional information sufficient to distinguish the trust from other trusts having one or more of the same settlors or the same testator and indicates that the collateral is held in a trust, unless the additional information so indicates;
(4) Subject to subsection (g) of this section, if the debtor is an individual to whom the District has issued a driver’s license that has not expired, or to whom the agency of the District that issues driver’s licenses has issued, instead of a driver’s license, a special identification card that has not become invalid, only if the financing statement provides the name of the individual which is indicated on the driver’s license or special identification card;
(5) If the debtor is an individual to whom paragraph (4) of this subsection does not apply, only if the financing statement provides the individual name of the debtor or the surname and first personal name of the debtor; and
(6) In other cases:
(A) If the debtor has a name, only if the financing statement provides the organizational name of the debtor; and
(B) If the debtor does not have a name, only if it provides the names of the partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor, in a manner that each name provided would be sufficient if the person named were the debtor.
(b) A financing statement that provides the name of the debtor in accordance with subsection (a) of this section is not rendered ineffective by the absence of:
(1) A trade name or other name of the debtor; or
(2) Unless required under subsection (a)(6)(B) of this section, names of partners, members, associates, or other persons comprising the debtor.
(c) A financing statement that provides only the debtor’s trade name does not sufficiently provide the name of the debtor.
(d) Failure to indicate the representative capacity of a secured party or representative of a secured party does not affect the sufficiency of a financing statement.
(e) A financing statement may provide the name of more than one debtor and the name of more than one secured party.
(f) The name of the decedent indicated on the order appointing the personal representative of the decedent issued by the court having jurisdiction over the collateral is sufficient as the “name of the decedent” under subsection (a)(2) of this section.
(g) If the District has issued to an individual more than one driver’s license, or special identification card, of a kind described in subsection (a)(4) of this section, the one that was issued most recently is the one to which subsection (a)(4) of this section refers.
(h) In this section, the “name of the settlor or testator” means:
(1) If the settlor is a registered organization, the name that is stated to be the settlor’s name on the public organic record most recently filed with or issued or enacted by the settlor’s jurisdiction of organization which purports to state, amend, or restate the settlor’s name; or
(2) In other cases, the name of the settlor or testator indicated in the trust’s organic record.
(Oct. 26, 2000, D.C. Law 13-201, § 101, 47 DCR 7576; May 1, 2013, D.C. Law 19-302, § 2(l), 60 DCR 2688.)
This section is referenced in § 28:9-502, § 28:9-506, § 28:9-507, and § 28:9-805.
The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 19-302 rewrote the section.
Applicability of D.C. Law 19-302: Section 4 of D.C. Law 19-302 provided that the act shall apply as of July 1, 2013.
1. Source. Subsections (a)(4)(A), (b), and (c) derive from former Section 9-402(7); otherwise, new.
2. Debtor’s Name. The requirement that a financing statement provide the debtor’s name is particularly important. Financing statements are indexed under the name of the debtor, and those who wish to find financing statements search for them under the debtor’s name. Subsection (a) explains what the debtor’s name is for purposes of a financing statement. If the debtor is a “registered organization” (defined in Section 9-102 so as to ordinarily include corporations, limited partnerships, and limited liability companies), then the debtor’s name is the name shown on the public records of the debtor’s “jurisdiction of organization” (also defined in Section 9-102). Subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) contain special rules for decedent’s estates and common-law trusts.
(Subsection (a)(1) applies to business trusts that are registered organizations.)
Subsection (a)(4)(A) essentially follows the first sentence of former Section 9-402(7). Section 1-201(28) defines the term “organization,” which appears in subsection (a)(4), very broadly, to include all legal and commercial entities as well as associations that lack the status of a legal entity. Thus, the term includes corporations, partnerships of all kinds, business trusts, limited liability companies, unincorporated associations, personal trusts, governments, and estates. If the organization has a name, that name is the correct name to put on a financing statement. If the organization does not have a name, then the financing statement should name the individuals or other entities who comprise the organization.
Together with subsections (b) and (c), subsection (a) reflects the view prevailing under former Article 9 that the actual individual or organizational name of the debtor on a financing statement is both necessary and sufficient, whether or not the financing statement provides trade or other names of the debtor and, if the debtor has a name, whether or not the financing statement provides the names of the partners, members, or associates who comprise the debtor.
Note that, even if the name provided in an initial financing statement is correct, the filing office nevertheless must reject the financing statement if it does not identify an individual debtor’s last name (e.g., if it is not clear whether the debtor’s name is Perry Mason or Mason Perry). See Section 9-516(b)(3)(C).
3. Secured Party’s Name. New subsection (d) makes clear that when the secured party is a representative, a financing statement is sufficient if it names the secured party, whether or not it indicates any representative capacity. Similarly, a financing statement that names a representative of the secured party is sufficient, even if it does not indicate the representative capacity.
Example: Debtor creates a security interest in favor of Bank X, Bank Y, and Bank Z, but not to their representative, the collateral agent (Bank A). The collateral agent is not itself a secured party. See Section 9-102. Under Sections 9-502(a) and 9-503(d), however, a financing statement is effective if it names as secured party Bank A and not the actual secured parties, even if it omits Bank A’s representative capacity.
Each person whose name is provided in an initial financing statement as the name of the secured party or representative of the secured party is a secured party of record. See Section 9-511.
4. Multiple Names. Subsection (e) makes explicit what is implicit under former Article 9: a financing statement may provide the name of more than one debtor and secured party. See Section 1-102(5)(a) (words in the singular include the plural). With respect to records relating to more than one debtor, see Section 9-520(d). With respect to financing statements providing the name of more than one secured party, see Sections 9-509(e) and 9-510(b).