Certification of Trust Requirements in Massachusetts

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Massachusetts requires eight fact groups, including the tax number

Under M.G.L. c. 203E, § 1013(a), the trustee may give a person other than a beneficiary a certification instead of the trust instrument. The required contents are the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, current 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 the statement that no revocation, modification, or amendment makes the representations incorrect. The tax number is part of the statutory list, not an optional transaction field.

Any trustee may authenticate the general certification

Section 1013(b) permits any trustee to sign or otherwise authenticate the general certification. It does not require every cotrustee to execute it and states no separate oath, acknowledgment, witness, or notarization form.

That differs from the real-property trustee's certificate in c. 184, § 35. The person who appears from registry records to be trustee must sign that certificate, and it must be sworn to or state that it is executed under the penalties of perjury.

Dispositive terms may be omitted, subject to focused excerpts

Section 1013(d) says 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 transaction-focused; it is not a general right under § 1013 to every trust term.

Reliance can bind trust property, and bad-faith demands carry damages

Under § 1013(f), a person relying without knowledge that the certification is incorrect is protected from liability and may assume its facts without inquiry. Possession of all or part of the instrument does not alone establish knowledge.

Subsection (g) makes a good-faith transaction enforceable against trust property. Subsection (h) imposes damages for a court-determined bad-faith demand for the trust instrument in addition to the certification or excerpts; it does not state an attorney- fee award. Subsection (i) preserves judicial access.

A separate recorded real-property certificate has its own effect

Chapter 203E, § 1013 does not state a recording rule. For real estate owned by a nontestamentary trust, c. 184, § 35 supplies a separate trustee's certificate. It may address trustee or beneficiary identity, trustee authority over real estate, or a condition-precedent or other germane trust fact.

When properly signed and sworn or executed under penalties of perjury, the certificate binds all trustees and the trust estate in favor of a purchaser or other good-faith relying person. The most recently recorded certificate in the registry for the county or district where the real estate lies controls.

What trips people up

• The general and real-property certificates have different execution rules. The oath or penalties-of-perjury requirement belongs to c. 184, § 35, not every general certification under c. 203E, § 1013.
• The taxpayer identification number is mandatory in the general certification. It is item seven of § 1013(a).
• The bad-faith-demand remedy says damages only. Section 1013(h) does not add costs, expenses, or attorney fees.

Common questions

May one trustee authenticate the general certification?

Yes. Section 1013(b) permits any trustee to sign or otherwise authenticate it, regardless of the cotrustee authority that the certification must separately describe.

Does the general certification have to be notarized?

Section 1013 does not prescribe notarization. The separate c. 184, § 35 real-property certificate must instead be sworn or state that it is executed under penalties of perjury.

Can the complete instrument be obtained in court?

Potentially. Section 1013(i) preserves the right to obtain a copy in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.

Statutes and sources

• M.G.L. c. 203E, § 1013(a)–(e) — required contents, taxpayer identification number, any-trustee authentication, no-change statement, omitted dispositive terms, and excerpts. Official Massachusetts General Laws (accessed 2026-07-31).
• M.G.L. c. 203E, § 1013(f)–(i) — knowledge-based reliance, good-faith enforceability, bad-faith demand damages, and judicial access. Official Massachusetts General Laws (accessed 2026-07-31).
• M.G.L. c. 184, § 35 — separate real-property trustee's-certificate contents, oath or penalties-of-perjury form, good-faith reliance, and most-recent-recorded control. Official Massachusetts General Laws (accessed 2026-07-31).