Certification of Trust Requirements in Connecticut

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Connecticut requires eight information groups and a no-change statement

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499zzz(a) requires the certification to state the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, acting trustee identity and address, trustee powers, revocability and any revocation-power holder, cotrustee authority, the trust's taxpayer identification number, and the manner of taking title.

Subsection (c) adds a separate mandatory statement: the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in a way that makes the certification's representations incorrect. The statute does not add settlor birth dates, successor trustees, appointment dates, governing law, situs, a legal description, bond status, or a no-litigation representation to that list.

Any trustee may authenticate the certification

Under § 45a-499zzz(b), any trustee may sign or otherwise authenticate the certification. That is different from the required field explaining whether all or fewer cotrustees must participate when exercising the underlying trust powers.

The certification section states no oath, acknowledgment, witness, or notary ceremony. A transaction or recording office may raise separate requirements, but they are not certification formalities supplied by this section.

Dispositive terms may stay private, with targeted excerpts available

Section 45a-499zzz(d) says the certification need not contain the trust's dispositive terms. Under subsection (e), however, the recipient may require excerpts from the original instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer power to act in the pending transaction.

That is a limited excerpt right. It does not become a general statutory right to the entire trust instrument merely because the recipient wants additional comfort.

Reliance, enforcement, and an improper demand use different standards

Section 45a-499zzz(f) protects a person who relies without knowledge that the certification is wrong and permits assumption of the certified facts without inquiry. Holding all or part of the trust instrument does not by itself impute knowledge.

Subsection (g) separately uses good faith for enforcement of the transaction against trust property. Under subsection (h), a bad-faith demand for the trust instrument in addition to the certification or permitted excerpts creates liability for damages, including legal fees and costs. Judicial access to the instrument remains available under subsection (i).

What trips people up

• The taxpayer identifier belongs to the trust. Section 45a-499zzz(a)(7) says “the trust's taxpayer identification number.” It does not say that only the last four digits of a settlor's number satisfy the required field.
• Cotrustee transaction authority is not the signer rule. The certification describes whether all or fewer cotrustees must exercise powers, but subsection (b) separately permits any trustee to authenticate the certification.
• The section states no recording effect. It does not authorize or require filing the certification in town land records, make it a public record, create constructive notice, or say that it transfers title.
• The demand consequence includes more than generic damages. Subsection (h) expressly includes legal fees and costs when the court finds lack of good faith.

Common questions

May the certification be used instead of the instrument for a beneficiary?

No under this substitute-document route. Section 45a-499zzz(a) applies to a person other than a beneficiary and separately excludes the Attorney General's office in a charitable-trust setting.

Must every acting trustee sign the certification?

No. Subsection (b) says any trustee may sign or otherwise authenticate it. The certification must still accurately describe cotrustee authority under subsection (a)(6).

Can the recipient obtain the instrument in a lawsuit about the trust?

Yes. Section 45a-499zzz(i) expressly preserves access in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.

Statutes and sources

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-499zzz(a)-(i) — availability, eight required content groups, any-trustee authentication, no-change statement, omitted dispositive terms, excerpts, reliance, enforcement, bad-faith-demand damages, and preserved judicial access. Official Connecticut General Assembly 2025 compiled Chapter 802c (accessed 2026-07-31).