A title examiner may presume that the trustee of a non-probate trust, named as grantor in an instrument in the chain of title, had authority to convey, with or without a certificate of trust or other recorded evidence of authority.
A conveyance by the current trustee of a non-probate trust shall be effective to transfer title to real estate even if the record title is held in the name of the trust or a former trustee.
Comment 1: See 14A V.S.A. §§ 1012 and 1013 for the presumptions available and the required elements of the certificate of trust for current transfers in which the grantor is a trustee.
Comment 2. If the Settlor of a Trust is deceased at the time of the transfer by a Trustee, an unrecorded tax lien under Federal (Estate or Gift Tax) or Vermont (Land Gains) laws may encumber the property.
History
March 29, 2000:
- Title – Replaced the words “INTER VIVOS” with A NON-PROBATE.
- Body of Standard – replaced the words “an inter vivos” with the words a non probate in the first sentence. Added the words receipt and recording before the colon. Added the words commonly referred to as a “Trustee Certificate” in the second sentence. Omitted the last two sentences of the Standard.
- Comment 2 – Added new Comment 2 to address the material removed from the last two sentences of the Standard.
- Comment 3 – Added new Comment 3 as guidance for practitioners involved intratransfers where there is a possibility of the Special Estate Tax Lien or Special Gift Tax Lien arising.
September 26, 2008:
- Body of Standard: Revised the standard as a result of the adoption of 27 V.S.A. §351 & § 352. (See 2003, Act 150 (Adj. Sess.) §3.)
- Comments were revised as follows: Comment 1 was deleted and new comment 1 inserted in its stead. Former comment 2 was deleted. Former comment 3 was amended and renumbered as Comment 2.
September 20, 2012:
- Comment 1 revised to reference statutory change.