Texas: Certification of Trust Requirements

Requirements one by one

Texas requires seven content groups

Texas Property Code § 114.086(a) authorizes the certification as an alternative
to giving the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary. Unlike
California's permissive fact list, Texas says the certification must contain the
listed information.

The seven groups are the trust's existence and execution date; settlor identity;
acting trustee identity and mailing address; trustee power information; revocability
and the person holding a revocation power; cotrustee exercise authority; and the
manner in which title should be taken. For powers, subsection (a)(4) allows either
one or more powers or a statement that the trust powers include at least all powers
granted by Chapter 113, Subchapter A.

Section 114.086(c) adds a required statement that the trust has not been revoked,
modified, or amended in a way that makes the certification's representations
incorrect. Subsection (d)(2) permits additional information, but does not turn a tax
identifier, governing-law statement, legal description, or successor list into a
statutory requirement.

Any trustee may authenticate the certification

Section 114.086(b) says the certification “may be signed or otherwise authenticated
by any trustee.” It does not require every cotrustee to sign the certification.

That signer rule is separate from subsection (a)(6), which requires the certification
to describe whether all or fewer than all cotrustees are needed to exercise trustee
powers. Section 114.086 itself states no oath, acknowledgment, notarization, or
witness requirement.

Only transaction-focused excerpts may be demanded

Under § 114.086(d)(1), dispositive terms need not appear. Section 114.086(e) lets the
recipient require excerpts from the original trust and later amendments that designate
the trustee and confer power to act in the pending transaction.

The section does not give the recipient a general right to every trust term. A demand
for the full instrument beyond the certification or permitted excerpts can produce
damages if a court finds the demand lacked good faith under § 114.086(i).

Knowledge and good faith do different work

Section 114.086(f) protects reliance without knowledge that the certification is
incorrect and lets the recipient assume the stated facts without inquiry. Section
114.086(g) makes a transaction unenforceable against the trust when the recipient had
actual knowledge, acquired before the transaction or binding commitment, that the
trustee was acting outside the trust's scope.

Section 114.086(h) separately lets a good-faith recipient enforce the transaction
against trust property as if the certification were correct. It also says an incomplete
certification does not by itself imply recipient liability and that failing to demand a
certification creates no good-faith inference.

The certification statute does not create a recording rule

Section 114.086 contains no requirement to record the certification and states no
certification-specific constructive-notice, priority, public-record, or title-transfer
effect. A recorder, deed, lender, or title company may raise separate transaction and
recording questions, but those are not rules stated by this certification section.

What trips people up

• “Any trustee” answers who executes the certification, not who may conduct the
  underlying transaction. The certification must separately state the cotrustee
  exercise rule.
• Texas requires the acting trustee's mailing address. A name alone does not
  satisfy § 114.086(a)(3).
• A tax identifier is not one of Texas's seven required content groups. Adding
  extra information is permitted, but the statute does not require an SSN or EIN.
• Bad-faith demand damages do not expressly include attorney's fees. Section
  114.086(i) says “damages”; do not import California's broader wording.

Common questions

Does the certification need to be notarized?

Not under § 114.086. Subsection (b) permits any trustee to sign or otherwise
authenticate and does not add an acknowledgment, notary, oath, or witness rule. A
separate transaction or recording requirement must be analyzed on its own terms.

Can one trustee sign when there are multiple trustees?

Yes. Section 114.086(b) permits any trustee to authenticate the certification. The
document still must state under subsection (a)(6) how many cotrustees are needed to
exercise the underlying trustee powers.

Must the trustee provide the entire trust if asked?

Not automatically. Section 114.086(e) authorizes limited excerpts designating the
trustee and conferring power for the pending transaction. A demand beyond the
certification and those excerpts may lead to damages after a court finds lack of good
faith; judicial proceedings remain an express exception under subsection (j).

Does Texas require recording the certification?

Section 114.086 does not. It supplies no recording command or certification-specific
notice effect.

Statutes and sources

• Tex. Prop. Code § 114.086(a)–(e) — availability, required content,
  any-trustee authentication, omitted dispositive terms, and permitted excerpts.
  Official Texas Property Code chapter 114
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• Tex. Prop. Code § 114.086(f)–(k) — reliance, actual knowledge,
  enforcement, bad-faith demand damages, judicial-proceeding exception, and
  beneficiary rights. Official Texas Property Code chapter
  114
  (accessed 2026-07-31).