Kentucky
Narrow UCC refusal for unauthorized individual filings; real-property tools are mainly criminal What the badges mean
Last verified: July 27, 2026 — confirm current text on the official site; this date is not a promise the law is unchanged.
UCC financing statements
Check if one exists
Free basic search. Kentucky SoS free UCC debtor search; live results without login.
Refusal / removal authority
Kentucky's §355.9-516A lets the filing office refuse — with Secretary of State approval — when it is evident from the contents that the filer is not authorized, but only when all debtors and secured parties are individuals. It is real statutory authority, not mere practice, with a narrower gate than a general fraud screen.
KY §355.9-516A
KY §355.9-513A
Full citations
- Ky. Rev. Stat. §355.9-516A
- Ky. Rev. Stat. §355.9-513A
Refusal under §516A (SoS approval; individual parties). Expedited administrative review, or an action against the SoS. §513A affidavit termination is limited to qualified persons (officials / law-enforcement / judicial employees, etc.), not a general-debtor tool.
If it's already filed: §355.9-513A (qualified persons); information statement and Article 9 remedies.
Real-property liens
Kentucky's confirmed dedicated RP tool is criminal: §434.155 (filing an illegal/forged/groundless/false lien — Class D / C / B felony ladder). §382.365 is about releasing satisfied liens and daily penalties, not fraudulent-lien filing. 2025 SB 194 (deed-fraud education + county notification mandate) last action was Senate Judiciary 02/20/2025 and is not enacted law.
KY §434.155
Full citations
- Ky. Rev. Stat. §434.155
Criminal prosecution path for illegal liens; no dedicated clerk counter-refusal or owner petition-to-strike statute was confirmed for general fraudulent real-property instruments.
If it's already recorded: Felony exposure under §434.155; civil theories beyond the statutes cited here require counsel.
Real-property records are held by the county clerk where the property sits.
Get notified before it happens
A free "property fraud alert" service is available in at least part of Kentucky — it emails or mails you whenever a document gets recorded against your name, so you find out right away instead of months later. Sign up for Jefferson County ClerkAlert →
Kentucky's largest county (Louisville). Fayette County (Lexington) runs a separate Recording Notification Service.
If you're a government official or employee
Affidavit / administrative termination pathway limited to qualified persons such as public officials, law-enforcement officers, and judicial employees.
KY §355.9-513A
Full citation
- Ky. Rev. Stat. §355.9-513A
Official form: Affidavit of Wrongfully Filed Record
Who this is for: The affidavit path appears limited to qualified persons — public officials, law-enforcement officers, and judicial employees — not a general tool for any debtor. The general UCC information statement is the rebuttal tool available to other debtors.
Kentucky's Secretary of State lists an “Affidavit of Wrongfully Filed Record” on its UCC Forms page for §355.9-513A, separate from the general, non-binding Information Statement listed there. It is a sworn affidavit path for having the Secretary of State treat a record as wrongfully filed.
Kentucky Secretary of State UCC forms page →
LienGuardAI does not publish templates or fill-in documents; the official version is the one on the government source, and it can change.
KY §355.9-513A
How this usually works in Kentucky
A summary of the tools Kentucky 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.
- 1Kentucky's free UCC search is linked on this page; county clerks hold land records.
- 2§355.9-516A allows refusal, with Secretary of State approval, of an unauthorized individual-to-individual UCC filing.
- 3§355.9-513A provides an affidavit-termination path for qualified officials and employees (described in the form section above).
- 4For a false real-property lien, the relevant statute is §434.155. §382.365 is not a fraud-cleanup statute, and 2025 SB 194 was not enacted.
What to expect
Kentucky's UCC gate is real but narrow; real-property cleanup is mainly criminal/court. 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.