Changes to Oklahoma's Uniform Commercial Code

By: Miles Pringle

January 2016

Effective November 1, 2015, several changes were made to Article 9, “Secured Transactions”, of Oklahoma’s Uniform Commercial Code. The changes were originally proposed by the Uniform Law Commission and the American Law Institute in 2010; however, Oklahoma’s Legislature did not enact many of the modifications until 2015. Practitioners, especially those with a transaction practice, should be aware of some of the changes. For example, language has been added to Section 9-607(b)(2)(A), “Collection and Enforcement by Secured Party”, to more narrowly define the content required in an affidavit sworn to and recorded by a secured party in order to nonjudicially foreclose a mortgage held as collateral.

The most important changes for secured transactions practitioners deal with defining a debtor’s name on a financing statement. For example, Section 1-9-503 provides that a financing statement as to an individual debtor should be in the person’s name on his/her unexpired driver’s license. Oklahoma has joined with the majority of states by adopting this requirement.

Attorneys can find more information by viewing a “Webcast Encore” of the 2015 Banking & Commercial Law Update on the Oklahoma Bar Association website, wherein former University of Oklahoma College of Law Professor Fred Miller discusses many of the changes. Also, a committee for the Financial Institution and Commercial Law Section, headed by Professor Alvin C. Harrell, has provided updated Oklahoma Comments to Article 9 to be published by Thomson Reuters.

©PRINGLE® 2016

This Article was originally published in Oklahoma County Bar Association’s Briefcase Vol. 48 No. 1 in January 2016.