A lapsed financing statement may not extinguish a creditor’s secured position in a bankruptcy case, according to a recent decision issued by the Utah Bankruptcy Court styled Thomson v. Short (In re Short) , Case No. 19-29471, Adv. No. 22-02004, 2025 WL 1362396 (Bankr. D. Utah May 9, 2025). Secured lenders are nevertheless well advised to monitor and timely file continuation statements under any circumstances, especially in the case of a borrower bankruptcy.

Background

Although blood is said to be thicker than water, on October 17, 2015, Raymond Short perfected a lien against his son, Douglas Short, to secure certain indebtedness Douglas owed to Raymond by filing a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) financing statement (Form UCC-1) covering all of Douglas’ personal property.

On December 31

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