Certification of Trust Requirements in New Hampshire

At a glance

Requirements one by one

The ordinary certification uses the eight-field UTC structure

RSA 564-B:10-1013(a) lets a trustee furnish a person other than a beneficiary an ordinary certification instead of the trust instrument. It must state 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 a statement that no revocation, modification, or amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect. Subsection (b) allows any trustee to sign or otherwise authenticate. Those ordinary-form provisions do not state a writing, oath, acknowledgment, notary, witness, or all-trustee requirement.

Focused excerpts and the ordinary reliance rules apply

Under § 564-B:10-1013(d), the ordinary certification need not contain dispositive terms. Subsection (e) permits the recipient to require excerpts that designate the trustee and confer power for the pending transaction.

Subsection (f) protects reliance 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. Subsection (g) separately allows good-faith transaction enforcement against trust property.

A court-determined bad-faith demand for the trust instrument in addition to the certification or permitted excerpts produces damages under subsection (h). Subsection (i) preserves access in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.

A separate certificate can establish real-estate conveyance power

Instead of the ordinary certification, § 564-B:10-1013(j)-(k) provides a special form for persons dealing with a trustee on a property conveyance. For real estate, the certificate must be written, signed by the trustee or trustees, executed with the formalities required for a real-property deed, and recorded in the registry of deeds for the county where the property lies.

A compliant certificate, substantially in the statutory form, is conclusive evidence and notice to third parties that the named trustee and successors have full power to convey the trust-held real estate. A purchaser or third party without actual contrary knowledge need not inquire further into the power, its proper exercise, or the application of trust assets. A successor's similarly filed certificate has the same effect.

Personal property uses a sworn, delivered certificate

Section 564-B:10-1013(k)(2) supplies a different special form for tangible or intangible personal property. A trustee signs a written certificate, the signature is sworn to before a notary public, and the certificate is delivered to the transferee or a transfer agent.

That compliant certificate is conclusive evidence and notice of the trustee's and successors' full personal-property conveyance power, subject to actual contrary knowledge. A successor certificate must be written, sworn, and delivered in the same manner. The subsection does not direct recording of the personal-property form.

What trips people up

• The ordinary and special certificates have different formalities. Any trustee may authenticate the ordinary form without a stated oath; the conveyance forms add deed formalities and recording for realty or a sworn-notary delivery rule for personalty.
• The special forms are alternatives, not mandatory additions to every ordinary certification. Subsection (j) says they operate instead of the subsection (a) certification for the covered property-conveyance protection.
• Recording is tied to the special realty certificate. The statute does not say every ordinary certification involving land must be recorded.
• The general bad-faith-demand remedy says damages. Subsection (h) does not expressly add attorney fees or costs.

Common questions

Does the ordinary certification itself conclusively prove conveyance power?

No. The ordinary form carries the reliance rules in subsections (f) and (g). The conclusive-evidence-and-notice language belongs to a compliant special certificate under subsection (k).

Can a successor trustee use the special certificate procedure?

Yes. Subsection (k)(1) gives a similarly filed realty certificate by a successor the same effect, and subsection (k)(3) does the same for a written, sworn, and delivered personalty certificate.

Does possessing the trust instrument automatically defeat ordinary reliance?

No. Section 564-B:10-1013(f) says knowledge may not be inferred solely because the recipient holds all or part of the instrument.

Statutes and sources

• RSA 564-B:10-1013(a)-(k) — ordinary certification contents, any-trustee authentication, privacy and excerpts, reliance, enforcement, bad-faith-demand damages, judicial access, and alternative real- and personal-property conveyance certificates with their formalities and effects. New Hampshire General Court (accessed 2026-07-31).