Santa Clara County Certificate of Trust Form (California)
All Santa Clara County specific forms and documents listed below are included in your immediate download package:
Certificate of Trust Form
Fill in the blank form formatted to comply with all recording and content requirements.
Included Santa Clara County compliant document last validated/updated 4/3/2025
Certificate of Trust Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included Santa Clara County compliant document last validated/updated 6/30/2025
Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document
Example of a properly completed form for reference.
Included Santa Clara County compliant document last validated/updated 4/25/2025
The following California and Santa Clara County supplemental forms are included as a courtesy with your order:
When using these Certificate of Trust forms, the subject real estate must be physically located in Santa Clara County. The executed documents should then be recorded in the following office:
County Clerk-Recorder
110 West Tasman Drive (ATTN: Recording-First floor), San Jose, California 95134
Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m
Phone: (408) 299-5688
Local jurisdictions located in Santa Clara County include:
- Alviso
- Campbell
- Coyote
- Cupertino
- Gilroy
- Holy City
- Los Altos
- Los Gatos
- Milpitas
- Morgan Hill
- Mount Hamilton
- Mountain View
- New Almaden
- Palo Alto
- Redwood Estates
- San Jose
- San Martin
- Santa Clara
- Saratoga
- Stanford
- Sunnyvale
How long does it take to get my forms?
Forms are available immediately after submitting payment.
How do I get my forms, are they emailed?
Immediately after you submit payment, the Santa Clara County forms you order will be available for download directly from your account. You can then download the forms to your computer. If you do not already have an account, one will be created for you as part of the order process, and your login details will be provided to you. If you encounter any issues accessing your forms, please reach out to our support team for assistance. Forms are NOT emailed to you.
What does "validated/updated" mean?
This indicates the most recent date when at least one of the following occurred:
- Updated: The document was updated or changed to remain compliant.
- Validated: The document was examined by an attorney or staff, or it was successfully recorded in Santa Clara County using our eRecording service.
Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Santa Clara County?
Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed all formatting requirements set forth by Santa Clara County including margin requirements, content requirements, font and font size requirements.
Can the Certificate of Trust forms be re-used?
Yes. You can re-use the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have more than one property in Santa Clara County that you need to transfer you would only need to order our forms once for all of your properties in Santa Clara County.
What are supplemental forms?
Often when a deed is recorded, additional documents are required by California or Santa Clara County. These could be tax related, informational, or even as simple as a coversheet. Supplemental forms are provided for free with your order where available.
What type of files are the forms?
All of our Santa Clara County Certificate of Trust forms are PDFs. You will need to have or get Adobe Reader to use our forms. Adobe Reader is free software that most computers already have installed.
Do I need any special software to use these forms?
You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to use our forms. Adobe Reader is free software that most computers already have installed.
Do I have to enter all of my property information online?
No. The blank forms are downloaded to your computer and you fill them out there, at your convenience.
Can I save the completed form, email it to someone?
Yes, you can save your deed form at any point with your information in it. The forms can also be emailed, blank or complete, as attachments.
Are there any recurring fees involved?
No. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.
California Certification of Trust
In California, the certification of trust is governed by Probate Code Section 18100.5.
A certificate of trust is used by an acting trustee or trustees of a trust to prove to financial institutions or other third parties that he/she/they has/have the authority to act on behalf of the trust. The certificate is used in lieu of the full trust document to keep nonessential information about the trust, such as the identities of trust beneficiaries, confidential.
The certificate verifies the existence of the trust and presents the pertinent details of the trust, such as the settlor, the trustee, the powers granted to the trustee, and, in the case that there are co-trustees, the number and identity of persons required to sign legal documents dealing with the trust. The certificate also specifies how the trust will vest title to real property.
Like all documents affecting real estate, the certification requires a legal description of the real property subject to the trust. In California, the certification also must include the trust's taxpayer ID, a number that is either the SSN of the settlor (in the case of revocable trusts) or an EIN assigned by the IRS (in the case of irrevocable trusts).
Trust law can quickly become complicated, and each case is unique, so contact a lawyer with any questions that arise.
(California Certificate of Trust Package includes form, guidelines, and completed example)
Our Promise
The documents you receive here will meet, or exceed, the Santa Clara County recording requirements for formatting. If there's an issue caused by our formatting, we'll make it right and refund your payment.
Save Time and Money
Get your Santa Clara County Certificate of Trust form done right the first time with Deeds.com Uniform Conveyancing Blanks. At Deeds.com, we understand that your time and money are valuable resources, and we don't want you to face a penalty fee or rejection imposed by a county recorder for submitting nonstandard documents. We constantly review and update our forms to meet rapidly changing state and county recording requirements for roughly 3,500 counties and local jurisdictions.
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June 30th, 2025
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June 30th, 2025
Breeze.... It feels silly to hire an attorney to do this for just one beneficiary. Thanks.
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June 29th, 2025
Everything that was stated to be included in my order was complete. Very satisfied
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Jerri S.
February 28th, 2019
Very helpful. Print out go to court house spent less then 15 minutes there and done! Thanks will use again.
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August 2nd, 2020
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June 18th, 2020
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July 9th, 2020
Thank you! You made the process of filing something unusual very easy and efficiently. I will definitely recommend you and be back for my future recording needs.
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August 18th, 2022
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April 30th, 2021
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March 27th, 2020
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April 16th, 2019
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May 26th, 2023
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January 8th, 2021
First time using Deeds.com and feel that your platform is clear and easy to use. I was also pleased with the messaging center and follow-up and also surprised at how quickly our particular deed was recorded and available to view. Having said that, when I first investigated Deeds.com the fee was $15 and as of 1/1/21 it has increased to $19 which I feel is pretty steep for the handling of 1 simple document especially when the turnaround was basically the same day. Your fee was nearly the equivalent of the cost of the Clerk's recording fee. Perhaps you should offer a fee schedule for those of us who are not volume recorders. Just a thought.
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August 18th, 2022
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