Bastrop County Trustee Deed Form

Texas real property held in a living trust or other express trust stands, as a matter of record title, in the name of its trustee. When the property leaves the trust, whether sold to a buyer or distributed to a beneficiary, the trustee signs the deed, and the deed recites the fiduciary capacity on its face. The Texas Trustee Deed conveys trust real property with words of grant and a warranty scoped to the trust's ownership, under the Texas Trust Code and the general deed statutes of the Property Code.

Authority the deed recites

Property Code Section 113.010 gives a trustee the power to contract to sell, sell and convey, or grant an option to sell real property at public or private sale, and Section 113.001 lets the trust instrument narrow or replace that power. The deed carries both threads: it identifies the trust by name and date, and it states the source of the power to convey, whether a power of sale article in the trust instrument, the statutory power, or both. The operative language then recites that the grantor acts solely as trustee and not individually, so the record shows a fiduciary conveyance rather than a personal one.

A warranty scoped to the trust's tenure

The deed grants, sells, and conveys the property itself, the language Texas characterization cases treat as a true conveyance rather than a quitclaim. Its covenant is a special warranty: the trust estate stands behind claims arising by, through, or under the grantor in the trustee capacity, but not otherwise. Because Property Code Section 5.023 implies covenants from the words grant and convey unless the deed expressly provides otherwise, the deed states that limitation expressly, keeping the implied covenants inside the same boundary. Title matters that predate the trust's ownership pass outside the covenant, and the conveyance is made subject to the exceptions the form lists along with valid matters of record.

What settles the other side of the closing

The Trust Code protects people who deal with a trustee in good faith. A buyer who obtains a certification of trust under Section 114.086, or a copy of the trust instrument, is not required to inquire into the trustee's powers, and Sections 114.082 and 101.001 let a trustee of record convey without subsequent question where the vesting deed never identified the trust or its beneficiaries. Texas title practice often records a certification of trust with the deed, connecting a successor trustee to the chain of title while the trust agreement itself stays private.

One trustee or two

The form provides a signature block and a separate notary certificate for each of up to two currently acting trustees, with the second block left blank when a sole trustee signs; cotrustees of a Texas trust may act by majority decision under Section 113.085. The deed is recorded with the county clerk of the county where the property is located, carries the confidentiality notice Property Code Section 11.008 places at the top of the first page, and reserves stamp space for the clerk. The package includes the deed as a fillable PDF, a completed example built on a realistic Tarrant County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that walks through every numbered section and the recording steps; the materials are informational and are not legal advice.