COVID closures, logistical bottlenecks, and short-staffed filing offices continue to pose challenges for customers used to submitting and receiving filings on an expedited basis. Unfortunately, we’re seeing these significant delays in very high-volume jurisdictions further exacerbating the impact on closings. We mentioned Delaware delays in the last issue of our newsletter and we’re not seeing much of an improvement there. “Next Day” expedites are currently running about 3-5 days to receive filed evidence, but that is far superior to the 4-month turnaround for routine processing. Delaware, however, is not alone. UCC Filing acknowledgments in New York are a good 10-15 days out and copy requests can also run 2 weeks out. Unfortunately, there is no expedited service available there.
In California, most filings are taking anywhere from 1-4 weeks to finalize evidence and expedite is only available for online filings with additional fees upwards of $750. UCCs in the Golden State are taking their time as well — about a week. Even in Texas where, thankfully, we have seen some improvement, preclearances and mergers can still cause us to wait 3 weeks for evidence. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Don’t miss your filing date. File early. There simply are no margins for error and unfortunately, though we’ve fielded so many of your pleas, there is very little we can do to get our contacts at the filing offices to prioritize, or even offer an estimate of completion for all of our many pending submissions. Don’t wait! Contact us now to get your filings on the fast(ish) track!