Colorado: Certification of Trust Requirements

Requirements one by one

Colorado requires seven listed information groups

Colorado Revised Statutes § 15-5-1013(1) authorizes a trustee to furnish a
certification instead of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary.
The certification must state the trust's existence and execution date, settlor
identity, the acting trustee's identity and address, revocability and the identity of
any revocation-power holder, cotrustee authentication authority, and the name in which
title to trust property may be taken.

The powers field is expressly limited to “the powers of the trustee in the pending
transaction.” Subsection (3) 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 15-5-1013(2) 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, witness, or
notarial act. A separate transaction or recording formality should not be stated as a
universal condition for this substitute document.

Colorado's title field asks for a name, not a property schedule

Section 15-5-1013(1)(g) requires “the name in which title to trust property may be
taken.” The listed contents do not separately require a legal description, parcel
number, account number, transaction-property inventory, trust situs, governing-law
statement, or taxpayer identification number.

That distinction matters because the certification reports the authorized title name;
the section does not make the certification itself a conveyance or asset-transfer
instrument.

Dispositive terms may stay private, subject to narrow excerpts

Under § 15-5-1013(4), the certification need not contain dispositive terms. Subsection
(5) permits the recipient to require excerpts from the original instrument and later
amendments that designate the trustee and confer the power needed for the pending
transaction.

The recipient's excerpt right is therefore tied to trustee identity and transaction
authority, not every trust term or every document an underwriter might prefer to see.

Reliance, enforcement, and demand remedies have separate tests

Section 15-5-1013(6) protects reliance without knowledge that the certification is
wrong and permits the 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 (7) requires good faith to enforce the transaction against trust property.
Subsection (8) separately makes a person liable for “costs, expenses, attorney fees,
and damages” when a court finds that a demand for the trust instrument in addition to
the certification or excerpts was not made in good faith.

What trips people up

• The powers statement is transaction-specific. Colorado does not require a
  schedule of every statutory and instrument-granted trustee power.
• No TIN is required by § 15-5-1013. A bank's preferred field is not one of the
  section's mandatory information groups.
• Any trustee may authenticate the certification. That rule is separate from the
  reported number of cotrustees needed to exercise the underlying power.
• The section states no recording effect. It does not say that recording is
  required, transfers title, or creates constructive notice.

Common questions

Does the certification prove that the trust was validly created?

No. Section 15-5-1013 governs the substitute disclosure and reliance consequences. It
does not decide a separate dispute over trust creation or validity.

Can the substitute-document route be used for a beneficiary request?

Not under subsection (1). The statutory certification route applies when the person
receiving it is someone other than a beneficiary.

Can a litigant still obtain the full trust instrument?

Yes. Section 15-5-1013(9) preserves the right to obtain it in a judicial proceeding
concerning the trust.

Statutes and sources

• C.R.S. § 15-5-1013(1)-(9) — availability, seven required information groups,
  transaction-specific powers, any-trustee authentication, the no-inaccuracy
  statement, omitted dispositive terms, limited excerpts, reliance, enforcement,
  bad-faith-demand remedies, and judicial access. Colorado General Assembly, Office
  of Legislative Legal Services
  (accessed 2026-07-31).