Columbia County Certificate of Trust Form (Oregon)

All Columbia County specific forms and documents listed below are included in your immediate download package:

Certificate of Trust Form

Columbia County Certificate of Trust Form

Fill in the blank form formatted to comply with all recording and content requirements.
Included Columbia County compliant document last validated/updated 7/16/2024

Certificate of Trust Guide

Columbia County Certificate of Trust Guide

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included Columbia County compliant document last validated/updated 7/4/2024

Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Columbia County Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included Columbia County compliant document last validated/updated 7/12/2024

The following Oregon and Columbia 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 Columbia County. The executed documents should then be recorded in the following office:

Columbia County Clerk

230 Strand St, St. Helens, Oregon 97051

Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 to 5:00 / Recording: 9:00 to 4:00

Phone: (503) 397-3796

Local jurisdictions located in Columbia County include:

  • Clatskanie
  • Columbia City
  • Deer Island
  • Rainier
  • Saint Helens
  • Scappoose
  • Vernonia
  • Warren

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 Columbia 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 Columbia County using our eRecording service.
Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Columbia County?

Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed all formatting requirements set forth by Columbia 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 Columbia County that you need to transfer you would only need to order our forms once for all of your properties in Columbia County.

What are supplemental forms?

Often when a deed is recorded, additional documents are required by Oregon or Columbia 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 Columbia 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.

Oregon Certification of Trust for Real Property Transactions

A trust is an arrangement whereby a person (the settlor or trustor) transfers property to another person, a trustee, who manages the assets for the benefit of a third (the beneficiary), pursuant to the terms established by the settlor in the trust instrument. Living trusts in Oregon are governed by the Uniform Trust Code, codified at Chapter 130 of the Revised Statutes.

When engaging in business with a trustee, parties to the transaction can request that the trustee provide a certification of trust. To allow the settlor to keep his estate plans private, the trust instrument is generally not recorded, and the trustee uses the certification of trust in the place of disclosing the entire contents of the trust instrument. The certification of trust, presented to anyone who is not a trust beneficiary, contains the essential information about the trust required for the pending or contemplated transaction, certifying its existence and the trustee's authority to do business as fiduciary.

The statutory requirements for a certification of trust are located at ORS 130.860. The certificate must state that the trust exists (generally by citing the trust's name) and provide the date of the trust instrument, and, in addition, the date of any amendment made to the trust. It should also include the name of the trust's settlor and the name and address of each currently acting trustee, and may also contain the name of a successor trustee, if any, "and the circumstances under which any successor trustee or trustees will assume trust powers" (ORS 130.860(8)).

The certificate also enumerates the trustee's powers relevant to the pending transaction. Some trustees may provide copies of excerpts from the trust instrument designating the trustee and establishing the requisite powers (130.860(6)). For trusts administered by multiple trustees, the certificate establishes whether trustees can act individually, or if a majority of, or all trustees are needed to exercise trustee powers.

Further, the certificate indicates whether the trust is irrevocable or revocable, along with the name of any person who can revoke the trust. In Oregon, the certificate should also specify if the trust can be amended or modified, and by whom.

Identifying information, such as the last four digits of the trust's taxpayer identification number, the jurisdiction under the laws of which the trust is governed, and the name by which the trust holds title to property, is also required. The certificate must also include a statement that the trust "has not been revoked, modified, or amended in any manner" to cause the within statements to be incorrect (130.860(4)).

For transactions involving real property, the certificate should also include a legal description of the subject real property. Recipients may require that the certificate also contain other facts "that are reasonably related to the administration of the trust" (130.860(7)(a)).

Certifications of trust in Oregon must be executed by all trustees (130.860(3)). Depending on the circumstances, the recipient of a certificate may require that the certificate be executed by a settlor or settlors and/or by a beneficiary or beneficiaries "if the certification is reasonably related to a pending or contemplated transaction with the person" (130.860(7)(b),(c)).

Recipients of a certification of trust may rely on the statements contained within as fact without further inquiry (130.860(9)(a)). Transactions are not enforceable against the trust if a recipient has actual knowledge that a trustee is acting outside the scope of the trust (130.860(9)(c)). Those who fail to request or accept a certificate of trust under ORS 130.860 are still afforded the protections of persons dealing with trustees under ORS 130.855 (130.860(12)).

Contact a lawyer for guidance about trusts, trustees, certifications of trust, and rights of persons dealing with trustees in Oregon.

(Oregon COT Package includes form, guidelines, and completed example)

Our Promise

The documents you receive here will meet, or exceed, the Columbia 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 Columbia 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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July 25th, 2024

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July 21st, 2024

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Thomas D.

April 30th, 2020

The documents themselves are fine and the information provided with them is helpful. I find the actual processing of the documents, however, to be difficult particularly once the document has been saved. First, I note that the box for the date only allows entry of the last 2 digits of the year. Unfortunately, my download only allows me to enter one of the 2 digits required. When I delete it repeatedly, it eventually allows both digits to be entered but puts them in extremely small text and in superscrypt. I have not found a solution to this problem and am not sure the deed can even be recorded with this problem.

Another problem is that if you try to revise the document after you have saved it the curser goes to the end of the line after each key entry. This means that there basically is no way to efficiently save the document for reworking later since you will have to delete everything you have entered in the text box unless you only need to make a single keystroke change or are willing to replace the curser after each entry. Try that with a long property description!

Please note that I am using a Mac to prepare my documents and perhaps this is part of an "incompatibility problem". However, I didn't see a disclaimer regarding Mac use and so would expect the documents to perform correctly. Overall, I give the program a "2 star" rating because I am experiencing significant difficulties in entering dates in the documents even before saving them and because saving your work for later revision appears to be basically unworkable.













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April 10th, 2019

Very helpful, with blank and sample completed documents. The only thing I was confused about was the "legal description" of my property. The documents weren't too helpful on what that meant. Otherwise they were great. It saved me $200 to prepare these myself.

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