Delaware Certificate of Trust by Corporation
Delaware Code
TITLE 12 Decedents' Estates and Fiduciary Relations
CHAPTER 35. TRUSTS
Subchapter III. General Provisions
Testamentary trusts; certification of by Register of Wills to
Register in Chancery; record.
(a) When a will is probated before the Register of Wills
for any of the counties of the State, containing a bequest or devise in
trust to pay the income arising from any part of the estate of the testator
to or for the benefit of a person other than the person named as trustee,
the Register of Wills before whom the probate is made shall, within 10
days thereafter, deliver to the Register in Chancery for the Register's
county a certificate setting forth the name and last address of the testator,
the date of the probate of the testator's will, the name and address of
the trustee appointed thereby and the provisions of the will relating to
said trust or trusts.
(b) The Register in Chancery for the several counties shall keep
a record in which shall be entered the names of the testators, the names
and post-office addresses of the trustees, the dates of their appointment
or the dates upon which their trusts become operative and the dates on
which their accounts are passed and shall file the certificates delivered
to them by the Register of Wills among the records of their offices. Title
12, Chap. 35, Subchap. III, §3538.
Subchapter VII. Liability of Trustees and Rights of Persons
Certification of trust.
(a) Instead of providing a person other than a beneficiary
with a copy of the trust instrument, a trustee may provide the person with
a certification of trust containing statements concerning, but not limited
to, the following matters:
(1) The existence of the trust and the date of execution
of the trust instrument;
(2) The identity of the trustor or trustors and of the currently
acting trustee or trustees of the trust;
(3) The powers of the trustee;
(4) The revocability or irrevocability of the trust and the identity
of any person holding a power to revoke the trust;
(5) The authority of co-trustees to sign and whether all or less
than all are required to sign in order to exercise powers of the trustee;
(6) The trust's taxpayer identification number; and
(7) The manner in which title to trust property may be taken.
(b) A certification of trust must be in the form of an acknowledged
writing and may be signed by any trustee.
(c) A certification of trust must contain a statement that the trust
has not been revoked, modified or amended in any manner that would cause
the representations contained in the certification of trust to be incorrect.
(d) A certification of trust need not contain the dispositive terms
of a trust.
(e) A recipient of a certification of trust may require the trustee
to provide copies of those excerpts from the original trust instrument
and later amendments which designate the trustee and confer upon the
trustee the power to act in the pending transaction.
(f) A person who acts in reliance upon a certification of trust
without knowledge that the representations contained therein are incorrect
is
not liable to any person for so acting and may assume without inquiry the
existence of the facts contained in the certification. Knowledge of the
terms of the trust may not be inferred solely from the fact that a copy
of all or part of the trust instrument is held by the person relying upon
the certification.
(g) A person who in good faith enters into a transaction in reliance
upon a certification of trust may enforce the transaction against the trust
property as if the representations contained in the certification were
correct.
(h) A person making a demand for the trust instrument in addition
to a certification of trust or excerpts is liable for damages, including
attorney's fees, if the court determines that the person did not act in
good faith in requesting the trust instrument.
(i) This section does not limit the right of a person to obtain
a copy of the trust instrument in a judicial proceeding concerning the
trust. Title 12, Chap. 35, Subchap. VII, §3591.