Certification of Trust Requirements in Arkansas
At a glance
| Governing law and availability | Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-1013; general certification of trust authorized |
|---|---|
| Permitted use and recipient | Trustee may furnish a person other than a beneficiary a certification instead of the trust instrument (§ 28-73-1013(a)) |
| Trust identity and party contents | Must state trust existence/execution date, settlor identity, and acting trustee's identity and address (§ 28-73-1013(a)(1)-(3)) |
| Authority, status, and title contents | Must state trustee powers, revocability/revoker, cotrustee authentication authority, title manner, and no change making representations incorrect (§ 28-73-1013(a)(4)-(7), (c)) |
| State-specific required contents | None beyond the seven listed information groups and no-inaccuracy statement; no TIN, situs, governing-law, successor, director, amendment-date, or property-description field (§ 28-73-1013(a), (c)) |
| Signer, authentication, and acknowledgment | Any trustee may sign or otherwise authenticate; no certification-specific oath, acknowledgment, witness, or notary requirement (§ 28-73-1013(b)) |
| Dispositive terms and permitted excerpts | Dispositive terms need not appear; recipient may require excerpts designating the trustee and conferring pending-transaction power (§ 28-73-1013(d)-(e)) |
| Reliance, enforcement, and improper demands | No-knowledge reliance and no-inquiry assumption; good-faith enforcement; bad-faith full-instrument demand yields damages only; judicial access preserved (§ 28-73-1013(f)-(i)) |
| Recording and real-property effect | No certification-specific recording rule or stated real-property effect in § 28-73-1013 |
Requirements one by one
Arkansas requires seven listed information groups
Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-1013(a)-(i) lets a trustee furnish a certification instead of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary. It must state the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, the acting trustee's identity and address, trustee powers, revocability and any revocation-power holder, cotrustee authentication authority, and the manner of taking title to trust property.
Unlike UTC versions that narrow the power statement to the pending transaction, Arkansas requires “the powers of the trustee.” Subsection (c) separately requires a statement that no revocation, modification, or amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect.
Any trustee may authenticate without a universal notary ceremony
Section 28-73-1013(b) says a certification may be signed or otherwise authenticated by any trustee. The signer need not be every cotrustee merely because the certification must report whether all or fewer cotrustees are needed to exercise trust powers.
The certification section does not prescribe an oath, acknowledgment, witnesses, or a notary. It also does not require a TIN, governing law, situs, settlor birth dates, amendment dates, successor trustees, or a transaction-property description.
The title-taking manner is expressly required
Section 28-73-1013(a)(7) requires “the manner of taking title to trust property.” That field should not be omitted merely because another state's version uses “the name in which title” instead.
The listed contents do not make the certification itself a deed, asset schedule, conveyance, or recording instrument.
Dispositive terms may stay private, subject to narrow excerpts
Under § 28-73-1013(d), the certification need not contain dispositive terms. Subsection (e) permits the recipient to require excerpts from the original instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer power for the pending transaction.
The excerpt right is tied to trustee identity and transaction authority, not the full instrument or every amendment.
Reliance, enforcement, and demand liability use separate tests
Section 28-73-1013(f) protects reliance without knowledge that the certification is wrong and permits the person to assume its facts without inquiry. Holding all or part of the instrument does not by itself impute knowledge of trust terms.
Subsection (g) requires good faith to enforce the transaction against trust property. Under subsection (h), a bad-faith demand for the trust instrument in addition to the certification or excerpts yields damages; the section does not add costs or attorney fees. Subsection (i) preserves instrument access in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.
What trips people up
- The powers field is broad. Arkansas does not textually limit it to powers used in the pending transaction.
- The title-taking manner is mandatory. It is paragraph (a)(7), not a customary extra field.
- Any trustee may authenticate. The cotrustee-authority statement does not become an all-trustee signature rule.
- The section states no recording effect. It does not say recording is required, transfers title, or creates constructive notice.
Common questions
Does the certification prove that the trust was validly created?
No. Section 28-73-1013 governs selected representations and reliance consequences. It does not decide a separate dispute over trust creation or trustee appointment.
Does the substitute-document route apply to a beneficiary request?
No. Subsection (a) authorizes the certification in place of the instrument when the recipient is a person other than a beneficiary.
May the full instrument still be obtained in a trust lawsuit?
Yes. Subsection (i) expressly preserves that right in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.
Statutes and sources
- Ark. Code Ann. § 28-73-1013(a)-(i) — availability, seven mandatory content groups, any-trustee authentication, no-inaccuracy statement, omitted dispositive terms, limited excerpts, reliance, enforcement, damages-only bad-faith-demand remedy, and judicial access. Official Code of Arkansas Rules public-domain transformation (accessed 2026-07-31).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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