Certification of Trust Requirements in Idaho

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Idaho's eight-item content list is permissive

Idaho Code § 68-114 lets trustees voluntarily or on request present a certification to any person in place of the instrument to establish the trust's existence or terms. The recipient is expressly free to refuse to accept and rely solely on it.

Section 68-115(1) says the certification “may” confirm eight categories: trust existence and execution date; settlor and current-trustee identities; trustee powers and restrictions; revocability and any revocation-power holder; cotrustee action; trust identifier and SSN/EIN type; establishing jurisdiction; and title form.

Those categories are permitted, not a universal eight-field mandate. The statute does not separately list successor trustees, beneficiaries, amendment dates, property descriptions, community-property status, water rights, or homestead information.

Two statements and every trustee's execution are mandatory

Idaho Code § 68-115(2) requires a statement that no revocation or amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect and that the signatures belong to all current trustees.

Section 68-114(2) separately requires an affidavit signed and acknowledged by every currently acting trustee. Even if fewer trustees may exercise an identified trust power, all current trustees execute the certification.

The statute says “signed and acknowledged.” It does not separately prescribe witnesses or add a distinct sworn-oath ceremony to the acknowledgment language.

Privacy is preserved subject to narrow excerpts

Section 68-116 says the certification need not contain dispositive provisions. The recipient may require copies of excerpts from a trust instrument that designate the trustee or confer power to act in the pending transaction.

That targeted right is not an automatic right to every dispositive term, every amendment, or the complete instrument. A recipient may instead choose not to rely on the certification alone.

Reliance and enforceability coexist with protected refusal

Section 68-117 protects reliance without knowledge that the certification is wrong and permits assumption of its facts without inquiry. Holding all or part of the instrument does not by itself impute knowledge. A transaction and resulting lien are fully enforceable against trust assets unless the recipient knows the trustee is acting outside the trust's scope.

Idaho supplies no bad-faith full-instrument-demand damages rule. Section 68-118 instead says failure to demand or refusal to accept and rely solely on the certification is not improper and supports no good-faith inference.

Section 68-119 extends the provisions to trusts established under Idaho law or another state's or jurisdiction's law.

What trips people up

• The eight fact categories are optional. The mandatory core is the two statements in § 68-115(2) plus the all-trustee affidavit and acknowledgment.
• All current trustees execute. That rule is separate from how many trustees may exercise a particular underlying power.
• The recipient may refuse certificate-only reliance. Compliance does not force acceptance or a transaction.
• The sections state no recording effect. They name no recorder, filing condition, constructive-notice rule, priority consequence, or transfer effect.

Common questions

Must the certification disclose the trust's SSN or EIN?

Not universally. The identifying number and its type are among the facts the certification may contain under § 68-115(1).

Does Idaho require beneficiary disclosure in the certification?

No. Beneficiary names or relationships are not in § 68-115's optional list or its mandatory statements.

Do these provisions apply to an out-of-state trust?

Yes. Section 68-119 applies them to trusts established under Idaho law or another state's or jurisdiction's law.

Statutes and sources

• Idaho Code §§ 68-114 to 68-119 — voluntary/requested use, no-acceptance rule, all-trustee affidavit and acknowledgment, optional eight-item content list, mandatory statements, omitted dispositive provisions, excerpts, reliance, transaction/lien enforceability, refusal protection, and all-trust applicability. § 68-114; § 68-115; § 68-116; § 68-117; § 68-118; § 68-119 (accessed 2026-07-31).