Are you selling your current home that is titled in your Trust? Or perhaps you are buying a new home and would like to title the home in your Trust. If either of these apply to you there are a few things you should expect to have readily available for your title company. 

First, you will want to make sure that if you are the Buyer, the purchase agreement clearly states in the “names for deed” section the full, complete name of your trust. This will notify the title company right away that there is additional documentation that will need to be collected.

In both instances of buying and selling, the title company will need to obtain a “Certificate of Trust” from you or your attorney. This document clearly states the full name of the trust as well as the Trustees and their powers. There are trusts that do not allow purchases of real estate and therefor cannot be used in a real estate transaction. The Certificate of Trust will let your title company know that you have this power within your Trust. If you do not already have a Certificate of Trust, you will need to have one completed by your attorney or the title company has a form you may fill out.

Please note, the title company does not want to see your entire trust, they just need to verify that you are able to buy or sell the real property and who the signers or “Trustees” of the trust are. We want to ensure the rest of your trust stays private, and at the same time have just enough information to ensure a clean and tidy transaction.

If you have questions regarding buying or selling a property in a Trust, please feel free to reach out to our team at Dodge County Title & Escrow, (402)721-5833 or visit www.dcte.net on the web.