AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE RECORDING OF CERTAIN TRUST INSTRUMENTS.
Whereas , The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to protect forthwith third parties relying on transfers by trustees of nontestamentary trusts, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 184 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
Section 35. Notwithstanding section 25 to the contrary, a certificate sworn to or stated to be executed under the penalties of perjury, and in either case signed by a person who from the records of the registry of deeds or of the registry district of the land court, for the county or district in which real estate owned by a nontestamentary trust lies, appears to be a trustee thereunder and which certifies as to: (a) the identity of the trustees or the beneficiaries thereunder; (b) the authority of the trustees to act with respect to real estate owned by the trust; or (c) the existence or nonexistence of a fact which constitutes a condition precedent to acts by the trustees or which are in any other manner germane to affairs of the trust, shall be binding on all trustees and the trust estate in favor of a purchaser or other person relying in good faith on the certificate. The certificate most recently recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which the real estate lies shall control.
SECTION 2. Chapter 203 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 2, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 2. If a trust concerning land is created or declared by such instrument, the recording of the instrument, or of a certificate conforming to the requirements of section 35 of chapter 184, in the registry of deeds or the registration office of the land court, in either case for the county or district where the land lies, shall be equivalent to actual notice to every person claiming under a conveyance, attachment or execution thereafter made or levied.