Certification of Trust Requirements in Louisiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Louisiana's substitute is a recordation extract, not a general certification

Louisiana Revised Statutes § 9:2092 applies when a domestic inter vivos or testamentary trust holds immovables or other property whose title must be recorded to affect third persons. The trustee must record the trust instrument, an extract of trust, or a qualifying clerk-certified copy in every parish where the property is located.

This is a public-record substitute tied to recordable-title property. Section 9:2092 does not create a general certification that a trustee may present instead of the full instrument for every bank, account, loan, or nonbeneficiary request.

The extract identifies beneficiaries and immovable-power limits

The settlor or trustee may execute the extract. It must state the trust name if one exists, whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable, every settlor, every trustee, the name or other description of the beneficiaries, the trust's execution date, and every trust restriction on the trustee's power to alienate, lease, or encumber immovable property.

The beneficiary field is therefore mandatory even though the statute does not require the distribution terms. The content list states no TIN, governing-law statement, cotrustee-signature rule, title-name formula, no-change representation, oath, witness, acknowledgment, or notary requirement for the extract itself.

A property description is not required in the extract

Section 9:2092(B)(3) expressly authorizes an extract or clerk-certified copy “without a description of the property.” The extract still must be filed in every parish where the relevant property is located.

This no-description rule is different from the requirement to disclose trustee-power limitations affecting immovables. Omitting a legal description does not excuse omitting an alienation, lease, or encumbrance restriction.

Omitted trustee-power limits lose effect against third persons

When an extract is recorded, a trust restriction on the trustee's power to alienate, lease, or encumber immovable property is ineffective against third persons unless the extract recites it. A substantially compliant extract affects third persons from the date of recordation.

For an inter vivos trust, recording the extract or a qualifying clerk-certified copy also prevents the trust instrument's failure to satisfy § 9:1752's form from being effective against third persons; those third persons are immune from claims based on that form defect.

The full instrument is required when it contains the transfer

The extract cannot replace the instrument that actually transfers immovable or other recordable-title property. Section 9:2092(A) says that when the trust instrument itself contains the transfer, the trustee must record the trust instrument in the property parish.

The extract reports selected trust facts and power limitations. It is not the transfer document.

What trips people up

• The scheme is recordation-specific. Do not present § 9:2092 as a general UTC certification right for ordinary personal-property transactions.
• Beneficiary identity is required. The extract must name or otherwise describe the beneficiary or beneficiaries.
• A legal description is not required. Section 9:2092(B)(3) says the extract may be filed without one.
• The full instrument must be recorded when it contains the transfer. An extract cannot substitute for the operative conveyance inside the trust instrument.

Common questions

May the settlor sign the extract instead of the trustee?

Yes. Section 9:2092(B)(1) permits execution by either the settlor or the trustee.

Does Louisiana give damages for demanding the full trust instrument?

No such remedy appears in §§ 9:2092 or 9:2262.2. Their third-person protections come from recordation, disclosure of immovable-power limits, and the stated form-defect immunity.

What if the trust is governed by another state's law?

For a foreign trust with recordable property in Louisiana, § 9:2262.2 permits an extract in the form allowed by the expressly chosen governing law or an extract using Louisiana's listed contents.

Statutes and sources

• La. R.S. 9:2092(A)-(B) — domestic-trust recordation trigger, extract contents, settlor-or-trustee execution, no-description rule, omitted-limit consequences, third-person effect, form-defect immunity, and full-instrument transfer rule. Louisiana Legislature (accessed 2026-07-31).
• La. R.S. 9:2262.2(A)-(B) — parallel foreign-trust recordation rule and the expressly chosen governing-law form option. Louisiana Legislature (accessed 2026-07-31).