New Hampshire: Certification of Trust Requirements

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).