Alabama: Certification of Trust Requirements

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).