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- Written by: Dennis Fordham
People want their confidential information inside of their living trust to remain confidential.
However, after a trust is executed the settlors often find it necessary to disclose certain limited information in order to retitle assets into the trust, borrow money against trust assets and insure the trust as owner of real property.
Fortunately, third parties requesting information about the trust – like banks, insurance companies and brokerages – only ask for limited information. That is, is the trust revocable or irrevocable; who are the current trustees; what powers does the trustee have; how should trust assets be titled; what is the trust’s taxpayer identification number; and has the trust been amended? A trustee’s certification of trust provides all such information.
In California, section 18100.5 of the Probate Code provides that, “(a) The trustee may present a certification of trust to any person in lieu of providing a copy of the trust instrument to establish the existence or terms of the trust. A certification of trust may be executed by the trustee voluntarily or at the request of the person with whom the trustee is dealing.”
The certification must meet the following requirements: (1) say that the trust has not been revoked, modified, or amended in any manner which would cause the representations contained in the certification of trust to be incorrect; (2) be signed by all of the currently acting trustees of the trust; (3) have a notarial certificate acknowledging each trustee signature.
A certification of trust is helpful, or even required, when dealing with banks, stock transfer agents, brokerage houses, insurance companies, title companies, and other third parties.
Estate planning attorneys often provide one with the trust for the client to copy and provide to retitle and insure trust assets.
If a third party who receives a certification of trust still insists on copies of the trust document to verify its information then the person providing the certification may refuse.
If the matter becomes controversial and goes to court and the court determines that the third party acted in bad faith in requesting the trust documents (section 18100(h) Probate Code) then damages, including attorney’s fees can be awarded.
The initial certification of trust that you receive with your trust, however, becomes stale over time and must be updated. Each time you amend your trust you need a new certification of trust to reflect the amendment.
Even without amendments, an old certification of trust often is unacceptable to third parties seeking to rely on it. Clients call me saying that their bank needs a more recent certification of trust to refinance their home.
Sometimes a client needs to provide a portion (excerpt) of the trust providing information not typically found in a certification of trust.
For the excerpt to be acceptable, the trustee will need to provide a trustee’s certification of the abstract of trust. The certification, made under penalty of perjury under the laws of the state of California, says that the attached abstracted copy of said trust is a true and correct copy of the original trust as executed.
Lastly it is not always necessary to provide either the certification of trust or the abstract of trust. Some third parties are satisfied if the settlor provides them with a copy of the following pages from their trust: first page (title/declaration page), section listing the names of trustees, the signature (execution) page and the notary page.
Accordingly, ask whether this more simplified approach is acceptable. If not, anyone needing to provide a certification of trust by a trustee or a certification of abstract of trust by a trustee may consider calling an estate planning attorney for assistance.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, California. He can be reached at
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- Written by: Kate Ramsayer
This year’s Arctic sea ice cover shrank to the second-lowest extent since modern record-keeping began in the late 1970s.
An analysis of satellite data by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC, at the University of Colorado, Boulder shows that the 2020 minimum extent, which was likely reached on Sept. 15, measured 1.44 million square miles.
In winter, frozen seawater covers almost the entire Arctic Ocean and neighboring seas. This sea ice undergoes seasonal patterns of change – thinning and shrinking during late spring and summer, and thickening and expanding during fall and winter.
The extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic can impact local ecosystems, regional and global weather patterns, and ocean circulation. In the last two decades, the minimum extent of Arctic sea ice in the summer has dropped markedly.
The lowest extent on record was set in 2012, and last year’s extent was tied for second – until this year’s.
A Siberian heat wave in spring 2020 began this year’s Arctic sea ice melt season early, and with Arctic temperatures being 14 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average, the ice extent kept declining.
The 2020 minimum extent was 958,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average of yearly minimum extents, and 2020 is only the second time on record that the minimum extent has fallen below 1.5 million square miles.
“It was just really warm in the Arctic this year, and the melt seasons have been starting earlier and earlier,” said Nathan Kurtz, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The earlier the melt season starts, the more ice you generally lose.”
Thin ice also melts quicker than thicker floes. Dramatic drops in sea ice extent in 2007 and 2012, along with generally declining summer extent, has led to fewer regions of thick, multi-year ice that has built up over multiple winters. In addition, a recent study showed that warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean, which is typically deep below the colder Arctic waters, is creeping up closer to the bottom of the sea ice and warming it from below.
There are cascading effects in the Arctic, said Mark Serreze, director of NSIDC. Warmer ocean temperatures eat away at the thicker multiyear ice, and also result in thinner ice to start the spring melt season.
Melt early in the season results in more open water, which absorbs heat from the Sun and increases water temperatures.
“As the sea ice cover extent declines, what we’re seeing is we’re continuing to lose that multiyear ice,” Serreze said. “The ice is shrinking in the summer, but it’s also getting thinner. You’re losing extent, and you’re losing the thick ice as well. It’s a double whammy.”
The second-lowest extent of sea ice on record is just one of many signs of a warming climate in the north, he said, pointing to the Siberian heat waves, forest fires, hotter-than-average temperatures over the Central Arctic, and the thawing permafrost that led to a Russian fuel spill.
Kate Ramsayer works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Due to high winds forecast from early Sunday morning through Monday, the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning from Lake County and much of the region that’s in effect from 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, to 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 28.
Officials said winds are forecasted to reach peak gusts of 35 to 50 miles per hour in the hills above 1,000 feet and low relative humidity values of 10 to 25 percent.
In response to the red flag warning, the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit said it has increased its staffing on all available engines not already on the 25 major fires across the state.
PG&E said it’s continuing to monitor the wind event and, given the expected weather conditions, the company began its one-day advance notifications to customers in areas where it may need to proactively turn power off for safety to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.
The potential public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, expected to start early Sunday morning, could impact approximately 97,000 customers in portions of 15 counties in the Northern Sierra and the northern Sacramento Valley.
PG&E said customers in portions of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Kern, Lake, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama and Yuba counties are being notified.
In Lake County, PG&E said it has notified 55 customers, two of them being medical baseline customers.
PG&E said late Friday afternoon that the anticipated scope and timing of this event has changed from earlier announcements, based on updated weather forecasts that showed stronger wind gusts in a larger portion of PG&E’s service area.
The company said its in-house meteorologists, as well as its Wildfire Safety Operation Center and Emergency Operations Center, continue to monitor conditions closely and additional notifications will be made on Friday to customers who may be impacted by this event.
Customers can look up their address online to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates or www.pge.com/pspszipcodealerts, PG&E reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The US Forest Service said Friday that the August Complex increased by nearly 5,000 more acres, to a total of 867,335 acres. Containment rose slightly to 40 percent.
The lightning-caused complex has been burning since Aug. 17 and is anticipated to be fully contained on Nov. 15. It is burning on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests.
At 7 a.m. Friday, a Type 2 Incident Management Team from the Mendocino National Forest, under Incident Commander Curtis Coots as well as a National Incident Management Team team, assumed command of the South Zone of the August Complex, officials said.
The Forest Service said crews continue to make progress in the Pillsbury Lake area, mopping up after successful firing operations earlier in the week. In addition, crews are working on approved fireline locations in Elk Creek drainage and the Sanhedrin Wilderness to prevent further fire spread to the west.
In the Pillsbury Ranch and Lake Pillsbury basin areas of Lake County, mandatory evacuations remain in place. More information on evacuations across the fire area can be found here.
In advance of a significant change in the forecast for the upcoming weekend – including high winds that have resulted in the National Weather Service issuing a red flag warning for much of Northern California from Saturday night through Monday – firefighters worked on Thursday to improve control lines west and northwest of Lake Pillsbury near Sunset Gap, officials said.
The Forest Service said pumps, hose lays, and sprinklers have been installed and tested, and dozer lines are being improved for use in firing and holding operations that may be needed as weather conditions change.
The east side of the South Zone is fully contained, and is being patrolled with aircraft to ensure that any threats to control lines are identified, officials said.
Officials said residents and property owners may return to their properties within the Mendocino National Forest in Glenn County, but access to the Forest Service closure area for other purposes, including hunting and recreation, is prohibited. Properties accessed via a Forest System road may require a permit from the US Forest Service.
Please contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316 for more information.
