In California, the document commonly called an “affidavit of successor trustee” is usually one of two things: a certification of trust under Probate Code Section 18100.5, which you present to banks and other institutions to prove your authority, or an affidavit of death of trustee, which you record with the county when the trust holds real property. Most successor trustees need both. Neither requires a court order — your authority comes from the trust document itself, and these papers exist to prove that authority to the outside world.
Certification of Trust Under Probate Code 18100.5
This is the workhorse document. Section 18100.5 lets you hand a bank, brokerage, or title company a short notarized certification instead of the full trust instrument, which can run dozens of pages and expose private information about beneficiaries and distributions.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5 The certification confirms you have authority to act. It does not have to reveal who inherits what.
What Goes In It
A certification of trust can confirm any of the following:
- That the trust exists and the date the trust instrument was signed
- The identity of the settlor and the currently acting trustee
- The powers the trustee holds under the trust
- Whether the trust is revocable, and who can revoke it
- If there are multiple trustees, whether all must sign or fewer can act
- The trust’s tax identification number (SSN or EIN)
- How title to trust assets should be held
- The legal description of any real property held in the trust1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5
It must also state that the trust has not been modified in any way that would make the certification inaccurate. The distribution provisions stay out. That’s the whole point.
Signing and Notarization
All currently acting trustees must sign, and the certification takes the form of an acknowledged declaration — meaning it has to be notarized, not just signed under oath.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5 California notaries charge $15 per acknowledgment. The acknowledged form matters because it verifies your identity and gives institutions the legal footing to rely on the document.
Why Institutions Accept It
A bank or title company that acts on your certification, without knowing anything in it is wrong, faces no liability for doing so. They can take it at face value without demanding proof of what the trust actually says.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5 This is why most institutions accept a properly prepared certification without asking for the full trust. Some banks still request a copy of the trust alongside the certification, particularly for large accounts, and they’re within their rights to do so.
The flip side: third parties acting in good faith are protected even if it turns out you overstated your powers, as long as they had no reason to know.2California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100 If your certification is inaccurate and someone gets hurt, the liability lands on you, not on the institution that trusted you.
Affidavit of Death of Trustee for Real Property
The certification of trust alone doesn’t fix the public land records. When the prior trustee has died and the trust holds real estate, you need to record an affidavit of death of trustee with the county recorder in every county where trust property sits. This is what updates title to reflect that you, not the deceased trustee, now have authority over the property.
What the recorder typically wants:
- A certified copy of the death certificate
- A completed Preliminary Change of Ownership Report for the county assessor
- The legal description of the property, matching the prior recorded deed exactly
- Information identifying the trust, the deceased trustee, and you as successor
It’s also worth recording the certification of trust itself alongside the affidavit.3California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5 Doing so puts your authority into the public record and smooths future transactions on the property — sales, refinancing, transfers to beneficiaries. Recording fees vary by county and generally start around $15 for the first page, with per-page charges after that.
Accepting the Role and the Rejection Trap
Being named in the trust doesn’t automatically make you trustee if you don’t want the job. California law lets you either accept the role formally in writing or accept by simply beginning to perform trustee duties. You can also reject it in writing. What you cannot do is wait: if you neither accept nor reject within a reasonable time after learning you were named, California treats the silence as a rejection.4California Public Law. California Probate Code 15601 If you intend to serve, start moving on the documents below.
The 60-Day Notice to Beneficiaries
This is the deadline new trustees miss most often, and missing it can trigger disputes or removal. Under Probate Code Section 16061.7, you must send a formal notice to all trust beneficiaries and to all heirs of a deceased settlor within 60 days of the triggering event. If you didn’t know about a particular beneficiary at the time, the 60-day clock for that person starts when you learn about them.5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 16061.7
The notice has to include:
- The settlor’s identity and the date the trust was signed
- Your name, address, and phone number as trustee
- The address of the trust’s principal place of administration
- A statement that the beneficiary can request a complete copy of the trust terms
- Any additional information the trust document itself requires5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 16061.7
The notice is required whenever a revocable trust becomes irrevocable (usually because the settlor died) or when a new trustee takes over an already irrevocable trust. Charitable trusts supervised by the Attorney General require notice to the AG as well. The obligation doesn’t end there — California also requires trustees to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed about the trust and its administration on an ongoing basis.6California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 16060 Going silent for months invites petitions to the court, and judges take transparency failures seriously.
A Realistic Sequence for the First Few Weeks
The paperwork feels heavy at first, but it comes together in a predictable order.
- Locate the trust document and every amendment. Nothing else can move until you have these. The drafting attorney may keep copies if you can’t find them.
- Order certified copies of the death certificate if the prior trustee died. Get several — the county recorder, banks, and brokerages each want their own.
- Prepare and notarize a certification of trust under Section 18100.5. This is what most financial institutions will ask for.1California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 18100.5
- Record an affidavit of death of trustee with the county recorder in every county where the trust owns real property, along with the death certificate and a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report.
- Send the statutory 60-day notice to all beneficiaries and heirs of a deceased settlor.5California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 16061.7
- Contact each financial institution holding trust assets to update account records. Bring the certification of trust, your identification, and the death certificate.
Two related obligations sit just outside the scope of proving your authority but are worth flagging so you don’t overlook them. If the trust has become irrevocable because the settlor died, it generally needs its own Employer Identification Number rather than the settlor’s Social Security number, and you should file IRS Form 56 to notify the IRS of the fiduciary relationship.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (Rev. December 2024) Handle those alongside the state-law paperwork, not after.