What it means
Instead of handing a bank, title company, or other third party the entire trust instrument, a trustee may furnish a certification of trust — a short document stating that the trust exists and when it was executed, who the settlor and current trustee are, the trustee's powers, any powers of direction, revocability and who may revoke, cotrustee signing authority, and how title to trust property is taken. It need not contain the dispositive terms — who inherits stays private.
Any trustee may sign it; it must state the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in a way making it incorrect. Good-faith reliance without knowledge of an error is protected.
- A certification substitutes for the trust instrument with persons other than beneficiaries — §736.1017(1).
- It must state the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in any manner making its representations incorrect.
- It need not include dispositive terms; recipients may require only excerpts designating the trustee and the powers for the pending transaction.
- A recipient acting in reliance without knowledge the certification is wrong is not liable and may enforce the transaction as if it were correct.
- The section does not defeat a right to the full instrument where the law or a judicial proceeding requires it.
How it plays out
Banks and title companies routinely ask for 'the whole trust.' Most of the time a certification satisfies them, and we prepare one whenever a trustee needs to open accounts, sell real estate, or claim digital assets — Florida's digital-assets law expressly accepts a §736.1017 certification. It keeps the family's dispositive terms out of a lender's file, and the reliance protections give institutions what they actually need: cover for the transaction.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 736.1017 does real work:
Questions people ask
