District of Columbia

UCC filings: Limited Land records: Limited

No UCC fraud refusal; forgery ladder for deeds/public records; no ROD strike petition What the badges mean

Last verified: August 10, 2026 — confirm current text on the official site; this date is not a promise the law is unchanged.

Specific items rechecked October 3, 2026: D.C. Code §41-204. October 4, 2026 (second read): D.C. Code §§22-3241, 22-3242, 22-1402, 41-204.

General information, not legal advice. Confirm current fees, forms, and deadlines on official government sites, and talk to an attorney about your situation. LienGuardAI does not file anything for you. See Legal Disclaimer & Terms of Use.

Relevant case law: The day after a North Dakota federal judge refused to dismiss a firearms case, the defendant electronically filed a UCC-1 financing statement with the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, D.C., listing that judge and the acting U.S. Attorney as $3.4 million “debtors,” with himself as the secured party. The D.C. office accepted the filing without review, so it immediately became a public record. A jury convicted him and a co-defendant of filing and conspiring to file false liens against federal officials. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, explaining that the filer chose a filing office whose records lenders and credit agencies would likely search, and that a false UCC filing still counts even if it would never have perfected a real claim. Verified. (United States v. Reed, 668 F.3d 978 (8th Cir. 2012).)

This is a plain-language summary of a published judicial opinion, not a complete report of the case. Confirm names, holdings, and procedural posture against the opinion itself.

UCC financing statements

Check if one exists

Search District of Columbia's UCC records

Free basic search. Login/account required. DC Recorder of Deeds publicsearch portal — free search/view after free registration; document download is paid. UCCs file with ROD, not CorpOnline.

Refusal / removal authority

The District has no non-uniform UCC pre-filing fraud refusal identified — only uniform mechanical grounds (§28:9-516/520). D.C. Code §41-204 makes it a crime (fine up to $500 and/or up to 1 year) to intentionally make a false statement on a financing statement filed with the Recorder of Deeds "pursuant to part 4 of Article 9," and cross-refers to §28:9-404. Those cross-references predate the current Article 9, where filing is Part 5 and §28:9-404 covers assignee rights, so whether §41-204 reaches a financing statement filed today is unsettled — confirm with counsel or the prosecutor before relying on it.

Citations No non-uniform pre-filing authority ide… DC §41-204

Full citations

No non-uniform pre-filing authority identified
D.C. Code §41-204

There is no pre-filing content/fraud review to invoke for ordinary UCC filings.

If it's already filed: Information statement / §28:9-518 / §28:9-625; possible criminal exposure under §41-204 (reach over current filings unsettled — see above).

Real-property liens

D.C. Code §42-1207 covers notices of pendency (lis pendens), not a fraudulent-instrument ROD petition. No dedicated NCCL chapter, ROD fraud refuse/strike petition, or TX-style owner affidavit was confirmed. Live criminal tools: §22-3241 (forgery — make/draw/utter a forged written instrument with intent to defraud/injure) and §22-3242(a)(3),(6) (≤10 years / fine when the instrument purports to be a public record or instrument filed in a public office, or a deed/instrument affecting legal rights). Narrow add-on: §22-1402 (maliciously recording a deed/contract with no title/color of title and intent to extort — fine ≥$1,000 and/or ≤180 days). Clearing title runs through Superior Court quiet-title counsel.

Citations DC §22-3241 DC §22-3242 DC §22-1402

Full citations

D.C. Code §22-3241
D.C. Code §22-3242
D.C. Code §22-1402

Sections 22-3241 and 22-3242 are criminal forgery offenses that prosecutors can charge; §22-1402 covers only recording with no title and intent to extort. §42-1207 is not a fraudulent-lien cleanup statute. Clearing a Recorder of Deeds record is done through a quiet-title action in court.

If it's already recorded: Forgery penalties up to 10 years for deed/public-record instruments; no dedicated private statutory CoA confirmed.

Real-property and UCC records for D.C. run through the Recorder of Deeds (publicsearch portal — free search after free registration; document download is paid).

How this usually works in District of Columbia

A summary of the tools District of Columbia law and filing offices provide — general information, not instructions for your facts. Confirm current practice with the filing office and talk to an attorney about your situation.

1The DC Recorder of Deeds public search portal is linked on this page (free registration is required to search and view).
2There is no pre-filing UCC fraud refusal; §41-204 is a narrow, older false-statement crime whose reach over current filings is unsettled.
3§42-1207 concerns notices of pendency (lis pendens); it is not a fraudulent-instrument cleanup statute.
4For a forged deed or instrument, D.C.'s tools are the forgery offenses in §§22-3241 / 22-3242 and a quiet-title action; §22-1402 applies only where someone records with no title and intent to extort.

What to expect

D.C. is criminal/court-leaning on land records, with verified forgery tools — still no ROD strike petition or TX-style affidavit. Confirm the current fee on the state's official site — filing and search fees change and are not published here.

Sources: the LienGuardAI fifty-state survey and UCC search portal review (How we verify). No dollar fee amounts are published here — always confirm the current fee on the state's own site.