Certification of Trust Requirements in Alabama

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Alabama requires eight listed information groups

Alabama Code § 19-3B-1013(a) authorizes a trustee to furnish a certification instead of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary. The required contents are the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, the acting trustee's identity and address, trustee powers, revocability and the revocation-power holder, cotrustee authentication authority, the trust's taxpayer identification number, and the name in which title may be taken.

Subsection (c) separately requires a statement that no revocation, modification, or amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect.

The powers statement follows the request or pending transaction

Section 19-3B-1013(a)(4) requires the trustee's powers “in a pending transaction or relevant to the request.” A certification therefore need not reproduce every default power in the Alabama Uniform Trust Code when a narrower statement answers the request or identifies authority for the pending transaction.

The listed contents do not separately require a property inventory, successor-trustee plan, appointment history, governing-law statement, or litigation-status representation.

The trust's taxpayer identification number is mandatory

Alabama includes the trust's taxpayer identification number in subsection (a)(7)'s mandatory list. The certification section states no settlor-SSN exception and does not make the number optional based on transaction type.

That field is distinct from the settlor-identity item in subsection (a)(2). The statute does not require the settlor's birth date, home address, competency status, or last four Social Security digits merely to satisfy the identity item.

Any trustee may authenticate without a statutory oath or notary

Section 19-3B-1013(b) says a certification may be signed or otherwise authenticated by “any trustee.” That signer rule is separate from the required statement about whether all or fewer cotrustees must act to exercise trust powers.

The certification section does not prescribe an oath, a declaration under penalty of perjury, witnesses, an acknowledgment, or a notarial act. A recipient's preferred formality should not be presented as part of § 19-3B-1013's universal execution rule.

Excerpts and demand damages are narrowly defined

Dispositive terms need not appear. A recipient may require excerpts from the original instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer power to act in the pending transaction.

Section 19-3B-1013(h) makes a person liable for damages if a court finds that a demand for the trust instrument in addition to the certification or excerpts lacked good faith. The subsection says “damages”; it does not expressly add costs, expenses, or attorney fees.

Reliance and enforcement use different standards

Subsection (f) protects a person relying without knowledge that the certification is wrong and permits that person to assume the certified facts without inquiry. Holding all or part of the trust instrument does not by itself impute knowledge of its terms.

Subsection (g) separately requires good faith for enforcement of the transaction against trust property as though the certified representations were correct.

What trips people up

• The TIN is not optional under this section. Alabama places it directly in the mandatory content list.
• One trustee may authenticate. The cotrustee-action rule reported in the certification does not require every cotrustee to sign the certification itself.
• There is no statutory perjury block or notary ceremony in § 19-3B-1013. Extra execution formalities may come from a separate transaction, but not this section.
• The bad-faith remedy is damages only. Do not add attorney fees or costs that the Alabama text does not state.

Common questions

Must the certification list every trust asset?

No. Section 19-3B-1013 requires the name in which title may be taken, not an inventory or legal description of every asset.

Does the certification itself transfer title?

No. It reports the authorized title name and trustee powers; the asset-transfer instrument remains a separate step.

Can the full trust instrument still be obtained in court?

Yes. Section 19-3B-1013(i) preserves access in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.

Statutes and sources

• Ala. Code § 19-3B-1013(a)-(i) — availability, eight required content groups, mandatory TIN, any-trustee authentication, omitted dispositive terms, limited excerpts, reliance, enforcement, damages for a bad-faith demand, and judicial access. Alabama Legislature (accessed 2026-07-31).