Montana: Certification of Trust Requirements
The short answer
Montana lets a trustee furnish a person other than a beneficiary a certification instead of the trust instrument. It must contain seven information groups, including the trust's relevant powers and—only when Montana law does not govern—the identity of the governing state; any trustee may authenticate it. Acknowledgment is not universal, but the trustee must acknowledge the certification on request so it may be recorded; the section otherwise provides the usual excerpt, reliance, enforcement, and bad-faith-demand rules.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Montana. Ezel applies current Montana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and availability | Mont. Code Ann. § 72-38-1013; general certification of trust authorized |
|---|---|
| Permitted use and recipient | Trustee may furnish a person other than a beneficiary a certification instead of the trust instrument (§ 72-38-1013(1)) |
| Trust identity and party contents | Must state trust existence/execution date, settlor identity, and current trustee identity + address (§ 72-38-1013(1)(a)-(c)) |
| Authority, status, and title contents | Must state relevant trustee powers, revocability/revoker, cotrustee authority, and no change making representations incorrect; no title-manner field (§ 72-38-1013(1)(d)-(f), (3)) |
| State-specific required contents | If Montana law does not govern, must identify governing state; certification does not consent to that state's jurisdiction/law; no TIN or successor field (§ 72-38-1013(1)(g), (10)) |
| Signer, authentication, and acknowledgment | Any trustee may authenticate; on request trustee must acknowledge so certification may be recorded; no universal oath, witness, notary, or all-trustee rule (§ 72-38-1013(2)) |
| Dispositive terms and permitted excerpts | Dispositive terms may be omitted; recipient may require excerpts designating trustee and conferring pending-transaction power (§ 72-38-1013(4)-(5)) |
| Reliance, enforcement, and improper demands | No-knowledge reliance + fact assumption; good-faith transaction enforceable; bad-faith full-instrument demand yields damages; legal/judicial disclosure preserved (§ 72-38-1013(6)-(9)) |
| Recording and real-property effect | On request trustee must acknowledge so certification may be recorded; § 72-38-1013 names no recorder and states no notice, priority, conveyance, or other real-property effect |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Montana requires seven information groups
Mont. Code Ann. § 72-38-1013(1) lets a trustee furnish a certification to a
person other than a beneficiary instead of the trust instrument. The certification
must state the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, current trustee
identity and address, relevant trustee powers, revocability and any revocation-power
holder, and cotrustee authority.
The seventh item applies only when the trust is governed by another state's law. In
that event, subsection (1)(g) requires the certification to identify that state.
Section 72-38-1013(10) says receiving the certification does not itself amount to
consent to any state's jurisdiction or application of its laws.
Subsection (3) separately requires the statement that no revocation, modification, or
amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect.
Any trustee authenticates; acknowledgment is request-driven
Section 72-38-1013(2) permits any trustee to sign or otherwise authenticate the
certification. It does not require every cotrustee to execute it.
The same subsection says that, upon request, the trustee must acknowledge the
certification so it may be recorded. Acknowledgment is therefore conditional rather
than a universal execution requirement. The certification section states no separate
oath, witness, or all-trustee rule.
Dispositive terms may stay private
Under § 72-38-1013(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 power for the pending
transaction.
The permitted request is focused on trustee status and transaction authority; it is
not automatic access to every trust provision.
Reliance and enforcement use different standards
Section 72-38-1013(6) protects a person who relies without knowledge that the
certification is wrong and permits assumption of its facts without inquiry. Holding
all or part of the trust instrument does not alone establish knowledge of its terms.
Subsection (7) separately allows a person who enters the transaction in good faith to
enforce it against trust property as though the certification's representations were
correct. A court-determined bad-faith demand for the trust instrument in addition to
the certification or excerpts produces damages under subsection (8). Subsection (9)
preserves disclosure required by law and access in a judicial proceeding concerning
the trust.
Recordability does not state a recording effect
Section 72-38-1013(2) requires requested acknowledgment so the certification may be
recorded, but the section does not name a recorder or limit the rule to real property.
It also does not say recording creates constructive notice, priority, public-record
status, conveyance power, or a transfer. Those effects, if any, depend on separate law
and the transaction.
What trips people up
- The governing-law field is conditional. It is required only when Montana law
does not govern, and receiving the certification is not jurisdictional consent. - Montana asks for relevant powers. The certification need not reproduce every
general trustee power when only some concern the pending matter. - Acknowledgment follows a request. It is not a universal condition for every
certification, though the trustee must provide it on request so recording is
possible. - The section states no recording consequence. Recordability alone does not
establish notice, priority, or transfer effect.
Common questions
Must the certification disclose the trust's TIN?
No. The seven-item list in § 72-38-1013(1) does not include a taxpayer identification
number.
Must it state how title to trust property is taken?
Not under this certification section. Title manner is not among Montana's seven listed
information groups.
Can the full instrument be obtained when another law requires it?
Yes. Section 72-38-1013(9) preserves the right to obtain a copy when law requires it
or in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.
Statutes and sources
- Mont. Code Ann. § 72-38-1013(1)-(10) — availability, seven required
information groups, conditional foreign governing-law disclosure, any-trustee
authentication, requested acknowledgment, privacy and excerpts, reliance,
enforcement, bad-faith-demand damages, legal and judicial disclosure, and no-consent
rule. Montana Legislature
(accessed 2026-07-31).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
Get the answer for your situation
You just read how Montana handles this in general. Ezel applies current Montana law to your facts and answers your specific question, with citations.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer cites the authority it relies on.