How to Do a UCC Search in Florida
A UCC search tells you what financing statements are on record against a debtor in Florida — who claims an interest in their equipment, inventory, and receivables, and in what order. Here's how to run one correctly in FL: the official portal, the exact steps, the fees, and the one detail (the debtor's exact name) that decides whether your search result means anything.
| Filing office | Florida Secured Transaction Registry (Florida Statutes Chapter 679), operated for the Department of State by FloridaUCC LLC |
|---|---|
| Official portal | Florida Secured Transaction Registry (floridaucc.com) |
| Account needed? | No account needed to search the Registry online. |
| Search fees | Online searching of the Registry is free; certified searches and copies are ordered through FloridaUCC at its published fees. |
| Where UCC-1s are filed | Florida privatized UCC filing in 2001: filings, amendments, and searches all run through the Florida Secured Transaction Registry (FloridaUCC LLC), not the Secretary of State's Sunbiz site. |
How to run a Florida UCC search, step by step
- Go to the Florida Secured Transaction Registry above — not Sunbiz. Florida UCC records do not live on the corporations site.
- Search by the debtor's exact legal name. Florida's Registry returns results alphabetically around your search term: you land on a page of 20 filings at the alphabetical spot your name occupies.
- Use the previous / next controls to review the filings immediately before and after your landing page — near-match names cluster there, and sloppy filings hide there.
- Open each filing to record the file number, file date, lapse date, parties, collateral, and UCC-3 activity (amendments, continuations, terminations).
- For a certified result, order a certified search through FloridaUCC and keep it with the transaction file.
Florida quirk: the alphabetical Registry search
Florida is genuinely different: instead of a standard exact-match search, the Registry drops you into an alphabetical browse of every filing and lets you page forward and back. Florida courts have split over how far a searcher must page to satisfy the §9-506 safe harbor — which is one more reason a Florida filing's debtor name must be character-perfect: in Florida, “close” can bury a filing pages away from where a searcher lands.
What a FL UCC search does — and doesn't — prove
A search shows the financing statements a filing office has on record for the name you searched, as of the search's through-date. It is only as good as the name: under §9-506, a filing with a seriously misleading debtor name is ineffective, and a standard search under the debtor's correct name that wouldn't disclose it is the legal test. So always search the exact legal name (§9-503) — and when a result matters (a loan, a purchase, a credit decision), get the certified/official search rather than relying on a quick online look. A search also won't show filings in other states: a debtor is searched where the debtor is legally located under §9-307 — see the UCC search hub for other states.
Go deeper than a search
A search tells you what's on record. The Private Money Rights Playbook teaches you how to be the secured party — UCC filing, trusts, private records, and the $10,000-a-Month Blueprint — and the UCC Talk24 Toolkit gives you the working tools: UCC-1 checklist, Articles 1–9 lookup, stamp and document generators.
Start with the filing guide: How to File a UCC-1 Financing Statement — and keep it alive with the UCC-3 Continuation rules.
Florida UCC search FAQ
How do I do a UCC search in Florida?
Through the Florida Secured Transaction Registry at floridaucc.com (run by FloridaUCC LLC for the Department of State). Search by debtor name — results are alphabetical, so page before and after your landing results to catch near matches.
Is Florida UCC on Sunbiz?
No. Florida privatized its UCC registry in 2001. Sunbiz handles corporations; UCC filings and searches are in the separate Florida Secured Transaction Registry.
How much does a Florida UCC search cost?
Online Registry searches are free. Certified searches and document copies are ordered through FloridaUCC at its published fee schedule.
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