Harris County Certification of Trust Form

Last validated July 18, 2026 by our Forms Development Team

Harris County Certification of Trust Form

Harris County Certification of Trust Form

Fill in the blank Certification of Trust form formatted to comply with all Texas recording and content requirements.

Document Last Validated 7/18/2026
Harris County Certification of Trust Guide

Harris County Certification of Trust Guide

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the Certification of Trust form.

Document Last Validated 7/18/2026
Harris County Completed Example of the Certification of Trust Document

Harris County Completed Example of the Certification of Trust Document

Example of a properly completed Texas Certification of Trust document for reference.

Document Last Validated 7/18/2026

All 3 documents above included • One-time purchase • No recurring fees

Immediate Download • Secure Checkout

Important: Your property must be located in Harris County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.

Where to Record Your Documents

Main Office

Address:
201 Caroline, Suite 320 / PO Box 1525
Houston, Texas 77002 / 77251-1525

Hours: 8:00 - 4:30 M-F

Phone: (713) 755-6439

Recording Tips for Harris County:
  • Double-check legal descriptions match your existing deed
  • Avoid the last business day of the month when possible
  • Recorded documents become public record - avoid including SSNs

Cities and Jurisdictions in Harris County

Properties in any of these areas use Harris County forms:

  • Alief
  • Barker
  • Baytown
  • Bellaire
  • Channelview
  • Crosby
  • Cypress
  • Deer Park
  • Galena Park
  • Highlands
  • Hockley
  • Houston
  • Huffman
  • Hufsmith
  • Humble
  • Katy
  • Kingwood
  • La Porte
  • North Houston
  • Pasadena
  • Seabrook
  • South Houston
  • Spring
  • Tomball
  • Waller
  • Webster

View Complete Recorder Office Guide

Hours, fees, requirements, and more for Harris County

How do I get my forms?

Forms are available for immediate download after payment. The Harris County forms will be in your account ready to download to your computer. An account is created for you during checkout if you don't have one. Forms are NOT emailed.

Are these forms guaranteed to be recordable in Harris County?

Yes. Our form blanks are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable formatting requirements used for recording in Harris County, including margin requirements, font requirements, and other layout standards. This guarantee applies to formatting, not to the legal sufficiency of information entered by the user or the suitability of a form for a particular transaction.

Can I reuse these forms?

Yes. You can reuse the forms for your personal use. For example, if you have multiple properties in Harris County you only need to order once.

What do I need to use these forms?

The forms are PDFs that you fill out on your computer. You'll need Adobe Reader (free software that most computers already have). You do NOT enter your property information online - you download the blank forms and complete them privately on your own computer.

Are there any recurring fees?

No. This is a one-time purchase. Nothing to cancel, no memberships, no recurring fees.

How much does it cost to record in Harris County?

Recording fees in Harris County vary. Contact the recorder's office at (713) 755-6439 for current fees.

Questions answered? Let's get started!

A Texas trustee is regularly asked to prove the trust: a title company examining a sale, a lender refinancing trust property, a bank retitling an account. Handing over the full trust instrument answers the question at the cost of the family's privacy, because the dispositive terms, who ultimately takes and on what conditions, travel with it. Section 114.086 of the Texas Property Code supplies the alternative this form prepares: a certification of trust, signed by a currently acting trustee, that carries the administrative facts a third party legitimately requires and expressly omits the dispositive terms of the trust.

What the Certification Carries

The statute lists seven items: the trust's existence and the date the trust instrument was executed, the settlor's identity, the currently acting trustee and mailing address, the trustee's powers (stated specifically or by reference to the general powers of Chapter 113, Subchapter A), revocability and who holds a power to revoke, the authority of cotrustees, and the manner of vesting title to trust property. Section 114.086(c) adds one required sentence: the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in any manner that would cause the representations in the certification to be incorrect. The form collects the seven items in numbered sections and performs the certification in a single operative paragraph the trustee signs before a notary.

Reliance the Statute Enforces

What gives the certification its force is the reliance structure built around it. A person who acts in reliance on a certification without knowledge that its representations are incorrect is not liable and may assume without inquiry the facts it contains, and a good faith counterparty may enforce the transaction against the trust property as if the representations were correct. The statute also polices the other side of the exchange: a recipient may require excerpts from the trust instrument showing the trustee's designation and power to act in the pending transaction, but a person who demands the entire trust instrument on top of a certification or those excerpts is liable for damages where a court finds the demand was not made in good faith.

Built for the County Records

No statute conditions the certification on recording, but a certification connected to real property is commonly placed of record so later title examiners find it. The form is built for that path. It carries a notarial acknowledgment, which qualifies it for recording under Property Code Section 12.001(a); an optional section identifying the property by county and legal description, so the recorded instrument indexes against the parcel; and a printed statement that the certification is not a conveyance and transfers no interest in real property. Because Section 114.086(b) lets any trustee sign, the form provides a signature block and a separate acknowledgment certificate for one trustee and for a cotrustee who joins.

What Arrives in the Download

The package contains the certification as a fillable PDF formatted to Texas recording standards, a completed example filled in for a realistic Travis County fact pattern, and a plain language guide covering every numbered section, the signing formalities, and recording, including the photo identification requirement at the recording counter for documents presented in person on or after December 4, 2025. The materials are informational and are not legal advice; a Texas attorney can apply Section 114.086 to a particular trust or transaction.

Important: Your property must be located in Harris County to use these forms. Documents should be recorded at the office below.

This Certification of Trust meets all recording requirements specific to Harris County.

Our Promise

The documents you receive here are guaranteed to meet or exceed the applicable Harris County recording format requirements. If there is a rejection caused by our formatting, we will correct the issue or refund your payment. This guarantee applies to document formatting only and does not extend to information entered by the user, the selection of the form, or the legal effect of the completed document.

Save Time and Money

Get your Harris County Certification 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.

4.8 out of 5 - ( 4762 Reviews )

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April 1st, 2019

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November 9th, 2021

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