Pennsylvania: Certification of Trust Requirements

Requirements one by one

Pennsylvania requires eight listed facts and a no-change statement

Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3(a), a trustee may give a nonbeneficiary a certification
instead of the trust instrument. The certification must contain eight items: the
trust's existence and execution date; the settlor; the acting trustee and address;
trustee powers; revocability and the holder of any revocation power; cotrustee
authority; the taxpayer identification number; and the manner of taking title.

Pennsylvania's taxpayer-number item is mandatory, not optional. Subsection (c) adds
that the certification “must state” that no revocation, modification, or amendment
makes its representations incorrect. The section does not add trust-director,
governing-law, situs, legal-description, or transaction-authorization fields.

Any trustee may authenticate the certification

Section 7790.3(b) says the certification “may be signed or otherwise authenticated by
any trustee.” It does not require every acting trustee to sign merely because the trust
has cotrustees.

That rule is separate from subsection (a)(6), which requires the certification to
describe the cotrustees' authority and say whether all or fewer than all must act to
exercise trustee powers. Section 7790.3 itself states no oath, acknowledgment,
notarization, witness, or guarantee requirement for the general certification.

Digital-asset disclosure adds a narrow perjury and consent layer

Sections 3912 and 3913 let a trustee who was not the original account user give a
digital-asset custodian a § 7790.3 certification instead of a certified trust
instrument. Both routes also require a separate trustee certification, under penalty
of perjury, that the trust exists and the trustee is currently acting.

For disclosure of electronic-message contents, § 3912(2) additionally requires the
trust certification to include consent to disclose those contents to the trustee.
The custodian may also request an account identifier or evidence connecting the
account to the trust. Section 3913 applies the parallel procedure to a communications
catalog and other digital assets but does not repeat the consent-language condition.

Dispositive terms stay out, but focused excerpts may be demanded

Section 7790.3(d) says the certification need not contain the trust's dispositive
terms. Under subsection (e), the recipient may require excerpts from the original
instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer power to act in
the pending transaction.

The excerpt rule is targeted. It does not say the recipient may demand every trust
term as a routine condition of using the certification.

Reliance turns on knowledge and good faith

Under § 7790.3(f), a person who relies without knowledge that the certification is
incorrect is protected from liability and may assume the stated facts without
inquiry. Holding some or all of the trust instrument does not by itself impute
knowledge of its terms.

Subsection (g) lets a person who enters a transaction in good faith enforce it against
trust property as if the certification's representations were correct. Subsection
(h) makes a person liable for damages if a court finds that the person did not act in
good faith when demanding the trust instrument in addition to the certification or
permitted excerpts. The section does not state a separate attorney-fee award.

What trips people up

• The taxpayer identification number is part of the required list. Pennsylvania's
  subsection (a)(7) differs from statutes that make an SSN or EIN optional or omit the
  item.
• Certification authentication and transaction authority are different questions.
  Any trustee may authenticate under subsection (b), while subsection (a)(6) requires
  the document to explain how many cotrustees must exercise the underlying powers.
• The penalty-of-perjury rule is use-specific. Sections 3912–3913 require a
  separate trustee certification for covered digital-asset disclosure; they do not
  convert every § 7790.3 certification into a sworn document.
• A damages rule is not an automatic refusal rule. Subsection (h) requires a court
  to determine that the person lacked good faith in demanding the trust instrument.

Common questions

Must the certification include the trust's tax identification number?

Yes. Section 7790.3(a)(7) lists the trust's taxpayer identification number among the
information the certification must contain.

Does every cotrustee have to sign?

Not under this certification section. Section 7790.3(b) allows any trustee to sign or
otherwise authenticate, although the certification must explain the cotrustees'
authority under subsection (a)(6).

Are there extra requirements when the certification is used for digital assets?

Yes. Sections 3912–3913 require a separate penalty-of-perjury trustee certification
for the covered custodian request. Section 3912 also requires consent language in the
trust certification when the trustee seeks electronic-message contents.

Does Pennsylvania require recording the certification?

Section 7790.3 states no certification-specific recording requirement, permission,
office, or real-property effect. A separate transaction may have its own title or
recording rules, but those are outside this certification section.

Statutes and sources

• 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3(a)–(e) — required contents, any-trustee authentication,
  no-change statement, omitted dispositive terms, and permitted excerpts. Official
  Pennsylvania General Assembly consolidated statute
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 20 Pa.C.S. § 7790.3(f)–(i) — knowledge-based reliance, good-faith
  enforcement, bad-faith demand damages, and the judicial-proceeding exception.
  Official Pennsylvania General Assembly consolidated statute
  (accessed 2026-07-31).
• 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 3912–3913 — special trust-certification, consent, separate
  penalty-of-perjury certification, and optional account-linking evidence rules for
  covered digital-asset custodian requests. Official Pennsylvania General Assembly
  consolidated statute
  (accessed 2026-07-31).