Maine
Secretary of State can refuse materially false filings; this statute does not run county land records 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: 5 M.R.S. §90-F(1) wording. October 4, 2026 (second read): 5 M.R.S. §§90-E, 90-F; 17-A §706-A; UCC search description.
UCC financing statements
Check if one exists
Maine's Secretary of State runs the UCC search. A free 'unofficial' debtor search shows name variations of active filings and filings lapsed within the past year; the official search through InforME costs money and needs a credit card or InforME account. Check the Secretary of State's UCC page for what each search shows.
Refusal / removal authority
Maine's title 5 §90-F(1) (2015) lets the Secretary of State refuse a record presented to it if the record is not required or authorized to be filed or recorded with the Secretary of State, or if there is reasonable cause to believe the record is materially false or fraudulent. The statute does not require the office to inspect, evaluate or investigate records presented to it.
ME §90-F
ME §90-E
Full citations
- Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 5 §90-F(1)
- Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 5 §90-E
Refusal at the SoS. A person seeking to compel filing can go to Superior Court. §90-F(2) lets the Secretary of State remove a filed record if it determines the record was not authorized to be filed there, or has reasonable cause to believe it is materially false or fraudulent; §90-E is a court motion (Kennebec County Superior Court) for a judicial declaration that a UCC filing is not authorized.
If it's already filed: §90-F(2) removal by the Secretary of State; title 11 §9-1518 / §9-1625; §90-E court motion for a judicial declaration.
Real-property liens
§90-F applies to records presented to the Secretary of State — it is not a county registry-of-deeds counter-refusal statute. The live land-side criminal tool is 17-A M.R.S. §706-A: with intent to defraud, harass, or intimidate, filing a will, deed, mortgage, security instrument, or other recordable writing knowing/believing it false or without legal authority is a Class D crime. No dedicated county refuse/remove or TX-style deed-affidavit statute was confirmed.
ME §706-A
Full citations
- Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A §706-A
Criminal referral under §706-A; each county registry sets its own process; civil cleanup is done through a quiet-title action. §90-F is not a registry tool.
If it's already recorded: Class D crime under §706-A; ordinary court relief for clearing the record.
County real-property records are held by the registry of deeds where the property sits — separate from the SoS UCC system.
Get notified before it happens
A free "property fraud alert" service is available in at least part of Maine — 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 Property Fraud Alert (Cumberland County) →
Cumberland County (Portland) is the only Maine county listed on this shared platform (checked 2026-10-03); other Maine registries were not confirmed.
If the path runs through court
Maine doesn't have a self-filed administrative form for this — the verified remedy runs through a court, which generally means an attorney rather than a fill-in-the-blank document.
Clearing a Fraudulent County Land-Records Instrument
For a fraudulent deed or mortgage recorded at the county level, the dedicated verified criminal hook is 17-A §706-A. No Maine statute was found that gives a registry of deeds a power to refuse or remove a recorded document for being false (confirm with the registry) — expect quiet-title counsel alongside any criminal referral.
ME §706-A
People consulting an attorney about a filing like this often bring:
- A copy of the filing, if available, and where and when it was filed or recorded (office, date, and document or instrument number)
- Any notices, letters, or other correspondence about it
- Records for the property or account it names, such as a deed, title, or loan papers
- Notes on any contact with the filer or the filing office, with dates
- This page's citations and their check dates
How this usually works in Maine
A summary of the tools Maine 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.
- 1Maine's unofficial free UCC debtor index and the paid official search are linked on this page.
- 2Title 5 §90-F lets the Secretary of State refuse or remove a record presented to it that is not authorized to be filed there or is materially false or fraudulent.
- 3§90-F applies to the Secretary of State, not to county registries of deeds, which set their own practice.
- 4For a false deed or mortgage filing, Maine's tool is the criminal statute 17-A §706-A; §90-E is a court motion for a judicial declaration that a UCC filing is not authorized.
What to expect
Maine's SoS refusal/removal statute is a real 2015 tool; county land records lean on the Class D false-filing crime plus quiet-title counsel. 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.