Florida Certification of Trust

What a Certification of Trust Is

A trust agreement says who is in charge and who inherits. Anyone you do business with as trustee needs the first part. Nobody outside the family needs the second. A certification of trust is the document that gives them the first part alone.

Florida law lets a trustee give a certification of trust to anyone other than a beneficiary instead of a copy of the trust instrument. It goes by several names. People call it a certificate of trust, and some banks and other states call it a trust abstract, an affidavit of trust or a memorandum of trust. In Florida the substance is set by one statute, section 736.1017.

What Florida Requires It to Say

A Florida certification of trust contains these eight items.

1. That the trust exists, and the date the trust instrument was signed.
2. Who created the trust, called the settlor.
3. Who the currently acting trustee is, and the trustee’s address.
4. The powers of the trustee.
5. Whether the trust gives anyone a power of direction, and if so who the current trust directors are, which trustee powers they control, and whether they have directed or authorized the transaction the certification is for.
6. Whether the trust can be revoked, and who holds the power to revoke it.
7. Whether co-trustees may sign alone, or whether all or only some of them must act together.
8. How the trust takes title to property.

It must also state that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in any way that would make the certification incorrect. It does not have to include the dispositive terms, which are the provisions that say who receives what.

Item 7 is the one that decides whether a trip to the bank takes one trustee or two. If your trust requires co-trustees to act together, the certification says so, and a bank will expect both signatures.

Who Signs It and Whether It Needs a Notary

Any trustee may sign the certification or otherwise authenticate it. When the settlor is serving as trustee of their own revocable trust, the settlor usually signs it at the same meeting where the trust is signed. When a successor trustee takes over, the successor signs a new one showing themselves as the currently acting trustee.

The statute does not mention a notary. Banks and title companies often require a notarized signature anyway, so the practical answer is to have it notarized. Florida allows remote online notarization, so a successor trustee in another state can usually sign without traveling.

Why Banks Accept It

Florida protects the person who relies on the certification. Someone who acts on it without knowing that its statements are wrong is not liable for doing so, and may assume the facts in it are true without looking further. Someone who enters into a transaction in good faith relying on it can enforce that transaction against the trust property as if the certification were correct.

Holding a copy of the trust does not change that. The statute says a person’s knowledge of the trust’s terms is not inferred just because they hold a copy of all or part of the trust instrument.

The recipient does keep one right. They may require the trustee to furnish copies of the excerpts from the trust, and any later amendments, that designate the trustee and give the trustee power to act in the transaction at hand. That means the pages naming the trustee and granting the relevant power, not the pages saying who inherits.

How the Big Banks Use It

Each bank has its own practice, set out in its own documents. We read them for our guide to opening a trust account.

• Chase says it may rely solely on the Chase Certification of Trust in place of the trust agreement and any amendment or restatement, and the trustee who signs it agrees to indemnify Chase for relying on it.
• Ally Bank accepts a certification of trust, which it says may be called a trust abstract or affidavit of trust depending on the state, or specific pages of the trust agreement, including the list of beneficiaries.
• Wells Fargo lists a Certification of Trustee form, on its own form or a third party’s, among the documents for a trust account when a trustee dies.
• Bank of America names no trust certification form, and its deposit agreement says it may refuse a legal document that is not on its own form.

Sending a bank a certification instead of pages of the trust keeps your beneficiary list out of the bank’s files. Ally’s alternative to a certification includes the list of beneficiaries.

When You Need a New One

A certification is accurate only as long as the trust matches it. You need a new one when an amendment or restatement changes the trustee, the successor trustee, the trustee’s powers, or how co-trustees act, and whenever a successor trustee takes over. A new name for the trust means a new certification too.

Keep a signed, current certification with the trust and give your successor trustee a copy of where it is. At the first bank visit after an incapacity or a death, it saves a second trip.

Related Guides

• Florida successor trustee, what the job is and how to take over
• How to fund a trust in Florida
• Florida trust administration after a death
• Trust account requirements at 185 banks, brokers and insurers

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The amendment that outdated the certification. A couple amends their trust to replace their son with their daughter as successor trustee and keeps using the certification signed with the original trust. That certification now names the wrong successor, and a bank relying on it after the amendment would be relying on something the trustees know is wrong. The fix is a new certification signed with the amendment.

The bank that asked for everything. A successor trustee is asked for the whole trust to retitle an account. Florida lets the bank ask for the pages that name the trustee and grant the power to act, and the trustee can offer those pages and the certification rather than the provisions dividing the estate among the grandchildren.

Sources of Law

• Fla. Stat. §736.1017 (annotated) (certification of trust), in full as of 2026. (1) contents, items (a) to (h); (2) may be signed or otherwise authenticated by any trustee; (3) must state that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in any manner that would make it incorrect; (4) need not contain the dispositive terms; (5) recipient may require excerpts designating the trustee and conferring the power to act; (6) reliance without knowledge of incorrect representations, and knowledge not inferred from holding a copy; (7) good-faith transactions enforceable against trust property; (8) no limit on obtaining the instrument where required by law or in a judicial proceeding.
• Bank practice: Chase Deposit Account Agreement (effective 6/14/2026), p. 7; Ally Bank Accounts for Trust FAQs and Trust Account Application, p. 1; Wells Fargo Estate Care Center checklist, p. 2; Bank of America Deposit Agreement and Disclosures (effective May 15, 2026), PDF p. 5. Quotations and links are on each bank’s page. Retrieved September 24 and 25, 2026.
• Remote online notarization: Fla. Stat. ch. 117, part II.

Updated on September 28, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.