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 11/19/2024
Certificate of Trust Guide
Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included Santa Clara County compliant document last validated/updated 8/19/2024
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 7/24/2024
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.
4.8 out of 5 - ( 4434 Reviews )
James S.
November 21st, 2024
Forms used, created quitclaim deed that the county accepted without a second look (turns out they see deeds.com forms regularly via erecording and in person). Will be back for any real estate related forms I need and they carry. Will always be my first stop. Also, will use erecording next time, mad I didn't see it this time.
Thanks for the kind words James, glad we could help. Look forward to seeing you again.
Thomas G.
November 21st, 2024
Wasn’t what I expected
Sorry to hear that your expectations were missed. Your order has been canceled. We do hope that you find something more suitable to your expectations elsewhere. Do keep in mind that purchasing legal forms should not be an exploratory endeavor.
Jimmy P.
November 20th, 2024
They sent me everything I would need to do this. Easy purchase -Easy download. Great!! I'll be back here for all my document needs.
We appreciate your business and value your feedback. Thank you. Have a wonderful day!
Kimberly R.
March 18th, 2024
Love this site. Very informative and helpful!
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Patricia R.
September 26th, 2022
Great Transaction. Easy to follow instructions!
We appreciate your business and value your feedback. Thank you. Have a wonderful day!
Catherine B.
September 15th, 2020
Trying to get a hold of someone in the office is very difficult. This made it so much easier, thank you!
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
John L B.
November 2nd, 2020
I ordered the Deed package for my state of NJ and the county I needed to prepare the documents. I was able to complete everything that is required to close on an investment property. Fast easy with step by step instructions no matter your situation. Definitely will recommend to family & friends. Save $ instead of paying others to do the same thing you can do yourself.
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
LAWRENCE P.
December 7th, 2021
How about a single button zip download of the files displayed instead of downloading them one at a time?
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Robin B.
November 6th, 2020
Nice and easy
Thank you!
Margaret F.
September 15th, 2021
They were very responsive although not able to find the document I was requesting.
Will be checking to make sure they refunded the fee on my credit card
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Darrell D.
June 6th, 2023
Thx.
Easy to research and download.
Now proof is in the pudding.
:-)
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Donald C.
February 22nd, 2019
No review provided.
Thank you!
Norma G.
July 30th, 2020
Very fast response!
We appreciate your business and value your feedback. Thank you. Have a wonderful day!
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.
Thank you for your feedback Thomas, we appreciate you being specific about the issues you encountered. Adobe and Mac have a fairly long history of issues working together.
Pamela S.
November 5th, 2019
Very good thanks.
Thank you!