Louisiana: Certification of Trust Requirements
The short answer
Louisiana has a narrow recordation substitute called an extract of trust, not a general UTC-style certification for routine bank or third-party requests. When trust property includes immovables or other property whose title must be recorded to affect third persons, the trustee must record the trust instrument, an extract, or a clerk-certified copy in each property parish; the extract may be executed by the settlor or trustee and must identify the trust, settlors, trustees, beneficiaries, date, revocability, and immovable-power limits. A recorded extract makes omitted alienation, lease, or encumbrance limits ineffective against third persons and can protect them from claims based on an inter vivos trust's form defect, but the full trust instrument must be recorded if it itself transfers the property.
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This is the general rule in Louisiana. Ezel applies current Louisiana law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and availability | La. R.S. 9:2092; narrow domestic-trust extract for recordation, with parallel foreign-trust rule in § 9:2262.2—not a general certification substitute |
|---|---|
| Permitted use and recipient | Used when trust property includes immovables/other title-recorded property; recorded for third-person effect in every property parish (§ 9:2092(A)) |
| Trust identity and party contents | Must state trust name if any, revocability, every settlor, every trustee, beneficiary name/description, and execution date (§ 9:2092(B)(1)(a)-(e)) |
| Authority, status, and title contents | Must disclose every trust limitation on trustee power to alienate, lease, or encumber immovables; no general cotrustee, title-name, or no-change statement (§ 9:2092(B)(1)(f), (2)) |
| State-specific required contents | Beneficiary identity/description and immovable-power restrictions are mandatory; property description is not required; foreign-trust extract may follow chosen governing law (§§ 9:2092(B), 9:2262.2(B)) |
| Signer, authentication, and acknowledgment | Settlor or trustee executes; §§ 9:2092 and 9:2262.2 state no extract-specific oath, witnesses, acknowledgment, or notary ceremony |
| Dispositive terms and permitted excerpts | Beneficiary name/description must appear, but distribution terms need not; no recipient excerpt-demand or full-instrument-demand remedy in these sections |
| Reliance, enforcement, and improper demands | Recorded extract affects third persons; omitted immovable-power limits are ineffective; qualifying third persons are immune from inter vivos form-defect claims; no UTC reliance/demand-damages rule (§ 9:2092(B)(2)-(3)) |
| Recording and real-property effect | Mandatory in each property parish when title recordation is needed; full instrument—not extract—must be filed if it contains the transfer; compliant extract affects third persons from recordation (§ 9:2092(A), (B)(3)) |
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Requirements one by one
Louisiana's substitute is a recordation extract, not a general certification
Louisiana Revised Statutes § 9:2092 applies when a domestic inter vivos or
testamentary trust holds immovables or other property whose title must be recorded to
affect third persons. The trustee must record the trust instrument, an extract of
trust, or a qualifying clerk-certified copy in every parish where the property is
located.
This is a public-record substitute tied to recordable-title property. Section 9:2092
does not create a general certification that a trustee may present instead of the full
instrument for every bank, account, loan, or nonbeneficiary request.
The extract identifies beneficiaries and immovable-power limits
The settlor or trustee may execute the extract. It must state the trust name if one
exists, whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable, every settlor, every trustee,
the name or other description of the beneficiaries, the trust's execution date, and
every trust restriction on the trustee's power to alienate, lease, or encumber
immovable property.
The beneficiary field is therefore mandatory even though the statute does not require
the distribution terms. The content list states no TIN, governing-law statement,
cotrustee-signature rule, title-name formula, no-change representation, oath, witness,
acknowledgment, or notary requirement for the extract itself.
A property description is not required in the extract
Section 9:2092(B)(3) expressly authorizes an extract or clerk-certified copy “without
a description of the property.” The extract still must be filed in every parish where
the relevant property is located.
This no-description rule is different from the requirement to disclose trustee-power
limitations affecting immovables. Omitting a legal description does not excuse
omitting an alienation, lease, or encumbrance restriction.
Omitted trustee-power limits lose effect against third persons
When an extract is recorded, a trust restriction on the trustee's power to alienate,
lease, or encumber immovable property is ineffective against third persons unless the
extract recites it. A substantially compliant extract affects third persons from the
date of recordation.
For an inter vivos trust, recording the extract or a qualifying clerk-certified copy
also prevents the trust instrument's failure to satisfy § 9:1752's form from being
effective against third persons; those third persons are immune from claims based on
that form defect.
The full instrument is required when it contains the transfer
The extract cannot replace the instrument that actually transfers immovable or other
recordable-title property. Section 9:2092(A) says that when the trust instrument itself
contains the transfer, the trustee must record the trust instrument in the property
parish.
The extract reports selected trust facts and power limitations. It is not the transfer
document.
What trips people up
- The scheme is recordation-specific. Do not present § 9:2092 as a general UTC
certification right for ordinary personal-property transactions. - Beneficiary identity is required. The extract must name or otherwise describe
the beneficiary or beneficiaries. - A legal description is not required. Section 9:2092(B)(3) says the extract may
be filed without one. - The full instrument must be recorded when it contains the transfer. An extract
cannot substitute for the operative conveyance inside the trust instrument.
Common questions
May the settlor sign the extract instead of the trustee?
Yes. Section 9:2092(B)(1) permits execution by either the settlor or the trustee.
Does Louisiana give damages for demanding the full trust instrument?
No such remedy appears in §§ 9:2092 or 9:2262.2. Their third-person protections come
from recordation, disclosure of immovable-power limits, and the stated form-defect
immunity.
What if the trust is governed by another state's law?
For a foreign trust with recordable property in Louisiana, § 9:2262.2 permits an
extract in the form allowed by the expressly chosen governing law or an extract using
Louisiana's listed contents.
Statutes and sources
- La. R.S. 9:2092(A)-(B) — domestic-trust recordation trigger, extract contents,
settlor-or-trustee execution, no-description rule, omitted-limit consequences,
third-person effect, form-defect immunity, and full-instrument transfer rule.
Louisiana Legislature (accessed
2026-07-31). - La. R.S. 9:2262.2(A)-(B) — parallel foreign-trust recordation rule and the
expressly chosen governing-law form option. Louisiana Legislature
(accessed 2026-07-31).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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