Hancock County Certificate of Trust Form (Maine)

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

Certificate of Trust Form

Hancock County Certificate of Trust Form

Fill in the blank form formatted to comply with all recording and content requirements.
Included Hancock County compliant document last validated/updated 6/6/2024

Certificate of Trust Guide

Hancock County Certificate of Trust Guide

Line by line guide explaining every blank on the form.
Included Hancock County compliant document last validated/updated 9/13/2024

Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Hancock County Completed Example of the Certificate of Trust Document

Example of a properly completed form for reference.
Included Hancock County compliant document last validated/updated 11/1/2024

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

Hancock County Register of Deeds

50 State St, Suite 9, Ellsworth, Maine 04605

Hours: 7:30 to 4:00 M-F / Recording from 8:30 to 4:00

Phone: (207) 667-8353

Local jurisdictions located in Hancock County include:

  • Aurora
  • Bar Harbor
  • Bass Harbor
  • Bernard
  • Birch Harbor
  • Blue Hill
  • Brooklin
  • Brooksville
  • Bucksport
  • Castine
  • Corea
  • Cranberry Isles
  • Deer Isle
  • East Blue Hill
  • East Orland
  • Ellsworth
  • Franklin
  • Frenchboro
  • Gouldsboro
  • Hancock
  • Harborside
  • Hulls Cove
  • Islesford
  • Little Deer Isle
  • Mount Desert
  • Northeast Harbor
  • Orland
  • Penobscot
  • Prospect Harbor
  • Salsbury Cove
  • Sargentville
  • Seal Cove
  • Seal Harbor
  • Sedgwick
  • Sorrento
  • Southwest Harbor
  • Stonington
  • Sullivan
  • Sunset
  • Surry
  • Swans Island
  • Winter Harbor

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

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

What are supplemental forms?

Often when a deed is recorded, additional documents are required by Maine or Hancock 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 Hancock 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.

The Maine certification of trust falls under the Maine Uniform Trust Code and is codified at 18-B M.R.S. 1013.

Under the statute, "Instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish to the person a certification of trust" (18-B M.R.S. 1013(1)). A trustee doing business on behalf of a trust generally provides a certificate as proof of his/her/their authority to act.

As an abstract of the trust instrument, the certificate contains only essential information relevant to the transaction at hand, allowing the trust instrument to remain private. For trustees not wishing to disclose the identity of persons having a beneficial interest in the trust, the certificate is a useful alternative to providing the trust instrument.

The certificate requires specific information about the trust, including the name and date of the trust instrument, the trust's taxpayer identification number, and whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable. It includes the trust's settlor, who is "a person, including a testator, who creates or contributes property to a trust" in addition to each acting trustee's name and address (18-B M.R.S. 103(14)).

A lawful certificate also requires a description of the trustee's powers as they relate to the transaction at hand. Since certificates are usually presented in real estate transactions involving trust property, they also require a legal description of the real property in the trust. The certificate includes the name by which the trust will hold property.

If there is more than one trustee, the certificate presents the names of each trustee who is authorized to authenticate documents, and whether all or fewer than all are required to exercise trustee powers.

Finally, the certificate requires a statement "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" (18-B M.R.S. 1013(3)). Representations are deemed correct, and a recipient of a certification of trust is not liable for acting on the information contained within (18-B M.R.S. 1013(6)).

Recipients may ask the trustee for excerpts from the trust instrument that designate the trustee and authorize the trustee to act in the transaction at hand, but requesting the entire trust document opens them to liabilities as set out in 18-B M.R.S. 1013(8).

Certificates can be signed by any trustee (18-B M.R.S. 1013(2)). If recording, submit the certificate in the county in which the real property subject to the transaction is situated.

Trust law can be complicated, so contact an attorney with questions about using a certificate of trust or other related issues.

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

Our Promise

The documents you receive here will meet, or exceed, the Hancock 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 Hancock 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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October 25th, 2024

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October 25th, 2024

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December 1st, 2021

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April 22nd, 2023

WOW, This site saved me from going to a lawyer. Not only do they give you great directions, they also include a sample that is extremely helpful.

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Kris D.

February 7th, 2022

The Executor's Guide needs more info about what to put for grantee (estate of deceased or my name as executor?) and the price (something nominal like $10?) before there is a buyer. The guide seems to use only one example.

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Albert G.

December 7th, 2019

Download was smooth. I'll post an update after I get a change to work with the forms.

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August 23rd, 2020

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Overall, an excellent transaction. Would definitely use Deeds.com again if the need arises.

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Janalee T.

April 17th, 2020

Fast, easy. quickly accepted by county recorder.

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January 4th, 2019

I love this guide. Thank you for having this available.

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Barbara L.

May 18th, 2023

Look great and I thought my daughter wanted me to buy, but she had already bought the package so didn't need it.

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Christopher B.

January 13th, 2021

Process went smoothly and will use for my next recording. Only area for improvement would be to provide the ability for the user to delete and replace uploaded documents.

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Wava B.

January 8th, 2021

Obtaining the form was quick and easy. Thank You

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LINDA S.

November 11th, 2020

One thing I would suggest that could be changed is the last page because we have a trust and I had to retype that page to include the trust and both trustee's signatures.

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Andrea H.

February 10th, 2022

Easy! Reasonable cost over and above the actual recording cost. Will save me the time I would have spent driving to the county offices.

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