Chester County Certificate of Trust Form (South Carolina)

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

Certificate of Trust Form

Chester County Certificate of Trust Form

Fill in the blank form formatted to comply with all recording and content requirements.
Included Chester County compliant document last validated/updated 2/3/2025

Certificate of Trust Guide

Chester County Certificate of Trust Guide

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form
Included Chester County compliant document last validated/updated 4/24/2025

Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Chester County Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Example of a properly completed form for reference.
Included Chester County compliant document last validated/updated 2/26/2025

When using these Certificate of Trust forms, the subject real estate must be physically located in Chester County. The executed documents should then be recorded in the following office:

Chester County Clerk of Court

140 Main St / PO Box 580, Chester, South Carolina 29706

Hours: 8:30 to 5:00 M-F

Phone: (803) 385-2605

Local jurisdictions located in Chester County include:

  • Blackstock
  • Chester
  • Edgemoor
  • Fort Lawn
  • Great Falls
  • Lando
  • Richburg

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

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

What are supplemental forms?

Often when a deed is recorded, additional documents are required by South Carolina or Chester 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 Chester 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.

South Carolina Certification of Trust

The certification of trust is codified at S.C. Code 62-7-1013 as part of the South Carolina Trust Code. A certificate of trust presents a summary of the trust to which it pertains, and verifies a trust's existence and the trustee's authority to act on behalf of the trust. A trustee may present the document in lieu of the trust instrument any person who is not a trust beneficiary. This allows the trustee to maintain the privacy of the settlor's estate plans by presenting only necessary information about the trust to parties outside the trust arrangement.

The format of the South Carolina certificate presents the most basic information about the trust first, including the name of the trust and date of execution of the trust instrument, and the name of each settlor and the acting trustee's name and address.

The certificate then presents certified statements, made by the trustees, that all currently serving trustees have executed and acknowledged the instrument, and 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" ( 62-4-1013(7)(c)).

Information about the trust's ability to be revoked, and the identity of any person who may revoke the trust pursuant to the terms of the trust instrument comes next, and information regarding the execution of trust documents follows. For trusts with co-trustees, the certificate shows how many trustees are required to execute trustee powers and enumerates the signature requirements established in the trust.

The certificate also requires the name by which the trust is to hold title to assets, typically by way of the trustee (e.g. "John Doe as Trustee of the Doe Revocable Trust Dated..."). In addition, the certificate presents the exact powers of the trustee to enter the transaction for which the certificate is presented, and may make a reference to the powers set forth in the South Carolina Trust Code.

Persons doing business with trustees have certain protections under the statutes. Recipients of a certification of trust, for example, "may assume without inquiry the existence of the facts contained in the certification" and "may enforce the transaction against the trust property as if the representations contained in the certification were correct" ( 62-4-1013(7)(f),(g)). Recipients may request that a trustee provide copies of excerpts from the trust instrument which designate the trustee and present the trustee's relevant powers, in addition to the certificate. Requesting the entire trust instrument opens them up to liabilities, however ( 62-4-1013(7)(h)).

Where a certification of trust is presented for transactions involving real property, the document should meet standards for recording documents in the State of South Carolina. The certificate must be acknowledged by the acting trustees and witnesses in the presence of a Notary Public before it is recorded in the county where the subject real property is situated.

Consult a lawyer with questions regarding certifications of trust in South Carolina.

(South Carolina COT Package includes form, guidelines, and completed example)

Our Promise

The documents you receive here will meet, or exceed, the Chester 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 Chester 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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Loretta W.

June 26th, 2025

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Nigel S.

June 24th, 2025

Very simple to use. The 'completed examples' are very helpful.

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June 23rd, 2025

Great service, easy way to get accurate documents

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May 24th, 2023

Very informative and helpful
Thank you so much

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A. S.

February 27th, 2019

First, I am glad that you gave a blank copy, an example copy, and a 'guide'. It made it much easier to do. Overall I was very happy with your products and organization... however, things got pretty confusing and I have a pretty 'serious' law background in Real Estate and Civil law. With that said, I spent about 10+ hours getting my work done, using the Deed of Trust and Promissory note from you and there were a few problems: First, it would be FANTASTIC if you actually aligned your guide to actually match the Deed or Promissory Note. What I mean is that if the Deed says 'section (E)' then your guide shouldn't be 'randomly' numbered as 1,2,3, for advice/instructions, but should EXACTLY match 'section (E)'. Some places you have to 'hunt' for what you are looking for, and if you did it based on my suggestion, you wouldn't need to 'hunt' and it would avoid confusion. 2nd: This one really 'hurt'... you had something called the 'Deed of Trust Master Form' yet you had basically no information on what it was or how to use it. The only information you had was a small section at the top of the 'Short Form Deed of Trust Guide'. Holy Cow, was that 'section' super confusing. I still don't know if I did it correctly, but your guide says only put a return address on it and leave the rest of the 16 or so page Deed of Trust beneath it blank... and then include your 'Deed of Trust' (I had to assume the short form deed that I had just created) as part of it. I had to assume that I had to print off the entire 17 page or so title page and blank deed. I also had to assume that the promissory note was supposed to be EXHIBIT A or B on the Short Form Deed. It would be great if someone would take a serious look at that short section in your 'Short Form Deed of Trust Guide' and realize that those of us using your products are seriously turning this into a county clerk to file and that most of us, probably already have a property that has an existing Deed... or at least can find one in the county records if necessary... and make sure that you make a distinction between the Deed for the property that already exists, versus the Deed of Trust and Promissory note that we are trying to file. Thanks.

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October 24th, 2019

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July 25th, 2024

After some initial general confusion -- (we sold a small piece of land privately and therefore do not typically prepare such documentation (!)) -- we were able to purchase and download all forms from Deeds.com and understand how to complete it/them. The help is all there, we just needed to read and study it - the "Example" helped alot. We were able to complete the Document per your online form(s) and then take it to be signed/notarized - and take the completed paper document to the Registry -- and it is now all registered and we are All Set. rn Took the morning (only). THANK YOU. A wonderful tool!!

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February 12th, 2020

The site was quick and easy to find information I needed. It also provided extra paperwork that would assist me.

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April L.

November 13th, 2019

The warranty deed forms I received worked fine.

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December 11th, 2020

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March 31st, 2022

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March 24th, 2021

Forms were easily accessible along with guides. Great resource. Thank you.

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June 2nd, 2022

I loved the forms. One suggestion a large family msy need more space to type all sisters and brothers names. Very informative. Thanks.

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July 1st, 2021

Getting the forms and paying the fee was very simple and easy to follow. Now we"ll see how it goes actually filling out the forms that are needed and correctly.

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