Certification of Trust - Pennsylvania
CERTIFICATION OF TRUST
20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3
To: [________________________________]
Transaction or purpose: [________________________________]
The undersigned currently acting trustee furnishes this certification to the nonbeneficiary recipient identified above in place of a copy of the trust instrument. The trustee certifies the following facts as of the date signed.
1. Trust and settlor
The trust identified below exists.
Name of trust: [________________________________]
Date trust instrument was executed: [__/__/____]
Settlor or settlors: [________________________________]
2. Currently acting trustee
| Trustee name | Address |
|---|---|
| [________________________________] | [________________________________] |
| [________________________________] | [________________________________] |
3. Trustee powers
The currently acting trustee has the following powers under the trust instrument that are relevant to the transaction identified above:
[________________________________]
[________________________________]
Any transaction-specific limits on those powers: [________________________________]
4. Revocability
☐ The trust is revocable. The person or persons holding a power to revoke it are: [________________________________].
☐ The trust is irrevocable.
5. Cotrustee authority
☐ There is one currently acting trustee.
☐ There are multiple currently acting trustees. Under the trust instrument, the cotrustees may sign or otherwise authenticate this transaction as follows: [________________________________].
Number of cotrustees required to exercise the relevant powers: [________________________________]
6. Tax identification and title
Trust taxpayer identification number: [________________________________]
Manner in which title to trust property is taken: [________________________________]
7. Assurance
The trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in a manner that would cause any representation in this certification to be incorrect.
Trustee authentication
I certify that the statements above are accurate as of the date signed.
Trustee signature: ________________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]
Printed name: [________________________________]
Additional trustee signature, if used: ________________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]
Printed name: [________________________________]
Recipient information
Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3(e), a recipient may request excerpts of the original trust instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer the power to act in the pending transaction. Section 7790.3(f) protects reliance on this certification only when the recipient lacks knowledge that its representations are incorrect; subsection (g) requires good faith to enforce a transaction against trust property. Section 7790.2(b) separately addresses a nonbeneficiary who deals with a trustee in good faith.
Sources and references
About this template
- Last updated
- October 24, 2026
- Citations checked
- October 24, 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Pennsylvania
- Category
- Estate Planning & Wills
Legal authority
- 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3 (Certification of trust)
- 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.2 (Protection of person dealing with trustee)
Estate planning documents decide what happens to your property, your children, and your medical care when you cannot make those decisions yourself. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care directives each serve different purposes and each have to meet state law requirements for signing, witnessing, and notarization. A document that looks fine on the page but was not executed correctly can be rejected in probate, which is exactly when it is too late to fix.
Not legal advice
This template is provided for informational purposes. We recommend having an attorney review any legal document before signing, especially for high-value or complex matters.
Checked against the law it cites
A reviewer verified this template's legal citations against the official source on October 24, 2026.
20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3(a), (b), (c) (checked October 24, 2026): "Instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish to the person a certification of trust containing the following information:"
20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.2(b) (checked October 24, 2026): "A person other than a beneficiary who in good faith deals with a trustee is not required to inquire into the extent of the trustee's powers or the propriety of their exercise."
Draft your Certification of Trust in the editor
Answer a few questions, let the AI editor draft each section from your answers, review it, and download Word and PDF. $99 one time, or $249 per month for every document and every Ezel app.