What's Included in Your Plan
A summary document that proves your trust exists and identifies your trustee's authority without revealing the full private details. Banks, title companies, and financial institutions require it when you fund your trust or transact on its behalf.
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Confirms the trust and your trustee's authority to banks and title companies.
Shares only what an institution needs, not your beneficiaries or assets.
The document institutions ask for when you retitle accounts and property.
Your trust keeps your affairs private, but you still need a way to prove it exists when you deal with a bank or title company. A certificate of trust does exactly that, sharing only what is necessary and nothing more.
A certificate of trust is a short summary of your trust. It confirms that the trust exists, identifies the trustee, and states what authority that trustee has, without disclosing your beneficiaries, your assets, or the private terms of the trust itself.
When you open an account in the name of your trust, retitle your home, or conduct a transaction on the trust's behalf, the institution can rely on the certificate instead of demanding the entire trust document.
One of the main reasons families choose a trust is privacy. Handing over the full trust document to every bank and title company would undercut that benefit. The certificate of trust lets you prove the trustee's authority while keeping the sensitive details where they belong, which is private.
Funding Your Trust
A trust only protects what is titled in its name. The certificate of trust is the key that lets you move each asset in without exposing your private terms.
We prepare your revocable living trust and a matching certificate of trust at the same time.
At the bank or title company, you show the short certificate rather than the full trust.
Accounts and property are moved into the trust's name based on that proof of authority.
With assets titled correctly, the trust does its job and keeps them out of probate.
Your family's plan starts with one call.
A trust only avoids probate for the assets actually titled in its name. Banks and title companies will not retitle those assets without proof of the trust, and that proof is the certificate of trust.
Without it, funding your trust becomes slow and frustrating, and assets that never make it into the trust can end up in probate anyway. The certificate keeps the process moving while protecting your privacy.
Common Questions
It proves your trust exists and confirms your trustee's authority to financial institutions, banks, and title companies, without revealing the private terms of your trust. You use it when funding the trust or transacting on its behalf.
The trust document contains all the private details, including your beneficiaries and how your assets are distributed. The certificate of trust is a short summary that shares only what an institution needs to verify the trustee's authority, keeping the rest confidential.
When Shea Law prepares your revocable living trust, we prepare the certificate of trust as part of the plan so you have it ready when banks and title companies ask for it during funding.
Free Consultation
Your free consultation is the easiest first step. We listen to your situation, explain your options in plain language, and there is no pressure and no obligation.
Plans start at $3,000 · Full quote provided during your free consultation
Our Locations
17 Michigan locations: Wayne, Oakland & Macomb Counties. Remote consultations available.
Main Office
Serving estate planning clients in Southfield, Detroit, Troy, Sterling Heights, Warren, Dearborn, Livonia, Farmington Hills, Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, Clinton Township, Ann Arbor, and communities throughout Wayne, Oakland & Macomb Counties.
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