Selling an Ohio House That Is Held in a Trust
The house is in your mother’s trust and you are the successor trustee. The good news is that Ohio gives you real authority here without a court hearing, and lets you prove it with a short document rather than the whole trust. The part worth reading carefully is a recording rule that changed three months ago.
A modest single-storey brick ranch house on an ordinary street with a maple turning colour at the kerb
A trustee may ordinarily sell without authorization by the court, and selling is one of the powers the statute names directly. You do not have to hand over the whole trust — a certification of trust will usually do, and it is not required to contain the dispositive terms, so who inherits what can stay private. The one thing to check carefully: since 16 June 2026 a memorandum of trust or other qualifying instrument shall be of record when a trustee conveys an interest in Ohio real property. Until this summer that was optional.
Most of what you will find online about selling a house held in a trust is written nationally, and the Ohio recording rule changed three months ago. We pulled both versions of that section and read them against each other, and the difference is set out below with both dates so you can check it.
This article touches trust and property law. We buy houses; we are not a law firm. Everything here is quoted from the Ohio Revised Code so you can check the section named. A trust’s own terms can narrow every power described below, and we have not read yours — a trusts and estates lawyer should, before you act.
What a trustee may actually do without asking anyone
Start with the general grant, because it is broader than people expect:
A trustee, without authorization by the court, may exercise powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, except as limited by the terms of the trust, may exercise all of the following powers: (1) All powers over the trust property that an unmarried competent owner has over individually owned property…
Two phrases carry the weight. "Without authorization by the court" is why a trust sale does not look like a probate sale — there is no filing, no hearing, no order. And "except as limited by the terms of the trust" is the catch: the document itself can cut the power back, and it is the first thing to read rather than the last.
The next section lists specific powers, and selling is on it in plain words: a trustee may "acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale". A privately negotiated sale is inside that wording, not an exception to it.
The same section that grants these powers ends by saying their exercise is subject to the fiduciary duties the chapter prescribes. That matters more here than anywhere else on this site: a trustee who sells trust property cheaply because it is convenient has a problem with the beneficiaries that has nothing to do with the buyer. If you are the trustee and one of the beneficiaries, get advice before you accept any offer, including ours.
You do not have to show anyone the whole trust
This is the part trustees are most often surprised by, and the most useful thing on this page for a family that would rather keep its business to itself. Instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish a certification of trust containing six things:
- A statement that the trust exists and the date the trust instrument was executed.
- The identity of the settlor — the person who set the trust up.
- The identity and address of the currently acting trustee.
- The powers of the trustee.
- Whether the trust is revocable or irrevocable, and who holds any power to revoke it.
- The authority of cotrustees to sign, and whether all or fewer than all are required to exercise the trustee’s powers.
It also has to state that the trust has not been revoked, modified or amended in any manner that would make those representations incorrect. And then comes the provision that makes the whole thing worth using:
A certification of trust is not required to contain the dispositive terms of a trust.
The dispositive terms are who gets what. They are nobody’s business at a closing, and the statute agrees.
What they can still ask for, and why they usually will not
The certification is not an absolute shield, and it would be misleading to present it as one. A recipient may require the trustee to furnish copies of those excerpts from the original trust instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer upon the trustee the power to act in the pending transaction. In other words: the pages proving you are the trustee and that you may sell. Not the rest.
Why a title company is generally content with that is the part nobody explains. Their protection is statutory:
| Provision | What it gives the other side |
|---|---|
| ORC 5810.12(B) | A person other than a beneficiary dealing in good faith with a trustee is not required to inquire into the extent of the trustee’s powers or the propriety of their exercise |
| ORC 5810.13(G) | Someone acting in reliance on a certification without knowledge that it is incorrect is not liable for so acting, and may assume the facts in it without inquiry |
| ORC 5810.13(H) | Someone who in good faith enters a transaction in reliance on a certification may enforce it against the trust property as if the representations were correct |
| ORC 5810.12(D) | The same protection extends to dealing in good faith with a former trustee, without knowledge that the trusteeship has terminated |
These describe protections the statute gives the party dealing with you, which is why a certification is normally enough. They do not oblige any particular company to accept one — 5810.13(F) expressly lets a recipient ask for the excerpts described above, and a firm may have stricter internal policy on top of that.
Want to know what we would need from a trustee?
Tell us the situation and we will set out exactly which documents our title company would ask for before closing, so you can take that list to whoever holds the trust. No cost and no obligation to go further.
The recording rule that changed in June 2026
Here is the one thing on this page most likely to catch out an article written a year ago. The section on memoranda of trust now reads, in its opening words:
A memorandum of trust or other instrument that satisfies both of the following shall be of record when any interest in real property is conveyed by the trustee of a disclosed trust, and in circumstances other than the conveyance of real property may be presented, in the office of the county recorder of any county in which real property that is subject to the trust is located…
The version in force until this summer opened differently: a memorandum of trust satisfying the requirements "may be presented for recordation". Recording was an option a trustee could take. On the current wording it shall be of record when a trustee of a disclosed trust conveys an interest in real property. We fetched the 29 April 2022 text and the current text and read them side by side rather than trusting anyone’s summary, including our own memory.
What the instrument has to contain has not changed. It must be executed and acknowledged by the trustee, and must state the trustee’s name and address, the date the trust was executed, and the powers in the trust relating to the acquisition, sale, encumbering or conveyance of real property — together with any restrictions on those powers. It constitutes notice only of the information in it.
What we cannot tell you is what follows from failing to record one. The section states the requirement and, in the text we read, names no penalty, and we read no case law on it. So we are flagging the change rather than predicting a consequence — and it is a question worth putting to the lawyer or title company handling your closing.
The disclosure form, and what is out of scope here
Ohio’s residential property disclosure statute lists transfers it does not apply to, and one of them is a transfer by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedent’s estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship, or a trust. Whether your sale sits inside that wording depends on the facts, and we have written about the exemptions in full separately. Being exempt from the form has never meant being free to mislead a buyer, and a trustee has less room for that than most sellers, not more.
Two things we are deliberately not covering. We are not going to tell you anything about basis, the step-up, or how a trust is taxed on a sale — that is an accountant’s question and a wrong answer there is expensive. And we did not read Chapter 5808 end to end, so treat the two sections quoted above as the powers, not as the whole of a trustee’s job.
Your options, honestly
The trust changes who signs and what gets recorded. It does not change what the realistic routes are.
- Keep it in the trust. If the trust’s terms and the beneficiaries allow it, doing nothing for a while is a real option — though the trust carries the taxes, insurance and upkeep meanwhile.
- Distribute it instead of selling. Where the trust permits, transferring the house to a beneficiary outright can be simpler than a sale. That is a question for the lawyer who reads the document.
- Repair and list. Usually the highest gross. Ohio commissions generally run 5.5% to 6%, and the repair money comes out of the trust before anyone sees a distribution.
- Rent it. Income to the trust rather than a lump sum, and a set of landlord obligations the trustee then carries.
- List it as-is. Fewer repairs, a narrower buyer pool, the same trustee paperwork at closing either way.
- Sell direct. No commissions, no repairs, closing as fast as 7 days where the title work is clean and typically around 21. The price is below retail — and a trustee has to be able to justify that trade to the beneficiaries, which is a real constraint and not a formality.
A listed sale at a higher price carries commission, concessions, repairs and every month of taxes, insurance and utilities the trust pays until it closes. A direct sale carries none of those and a lower price. Put both through the same arithmetic — and as a trustee, keep the comparison on paper. Being able to show how you reached the decision is worth as much as the decision.
Need a figure for the file?
We will give you a written offer and a realistic listed-sale net side by side, with the deductions itemised. Trustees use it as documentation of what the alternatives actually were, whichever way they end up going.
Where this leaves you
Three practical steps, in order. Read the trust’s own terms on selling real property first, because they override the general powers. Ask whoever is handling the closing what they want beyond a certification of trust, and hold them to the excerpts the statute describes rather than the whole document. And raise the memorandum of trust explicitly, since the requirement changed in June and not everyone will have it front of mind.
And if the beneficiaries are not of one mind about whether to sell at all, that is a different problem from the paperwork and a more common one. Our article on what happens when siblings cannot agree about an inherited house covers the ground.
When a straightforward sale is what the trust needs
We buy houses across Cleveland and Cuyahoga County in any condition, close through a title company, and take no commissions or fees from the trust’s side. Send us the address whenever you would like a number to compare — and if listing is the better answer for the beneficiaries, we will say so.
Frequently asked questions
Ordinarily no. A trustee, without authorization by the court, may exercise the powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, except as limited by those terms, all powers over the trust property that an unmarried competent owner has over individually owned property. The trust document itself is the thing that can narrow that, so read it before you rely on it.
Yes. Among the specific powers the statute confers, a trustee may acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale. A private sale to a buyer you found yourself is within that wording, not outside it.
Not as a starting point. Instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish a certification of trust setting out six specified things — that the trust exists and when it was executed, who the settlor is, who the current trustee is and their address, the trustee’s powers, whether the trust is revocable and who may revoke it, and how cotrustees sign.
It does not have to. The statute says in as many words that a certification of trust is not required to contain the dispositive terms of a trust. That is the provision worth knowing, because the dispositive terms are usually the part a family would rather not hand to a stranger.
Some of it, yes. A recipient of a certification may require the trustee to furnish copies of those excerpts from the original trust instrument and later amendments that designate the trustee and confer upon the trustee the power to act in the pending transaction. So they can ask for the pages that prove you are you and that you may sell — not for the whole document.
Because the statute protects them for doing so. A person acting in reliance on a certification without knowledge that its representations are incorrect is not liable for so acting and may assume the facts in it without inquiry, and a person who in good faith enters a transaction in reliance on one may enforce it against the trust property as if the representations were correct. Separately, someone dealing in good faith with a trustee is not required to inquire into the extent of the trustee’s powers at all.
As the section reads now, yes. A memorandum of trust or other instrument meeting the statutory requirements shall be of record when any interest in real property is conveyed by the trustee of a disclosed trust. It must be executed and acknowledged by the trustee and must state the trustee’s name and address, the date the trust was executed, and the powers in the trust relating to acquiring, selling, encumbering or conveying real property, along with any restrictions on those powers.
No, and this is the part most articles have not caught up with. The version of the section in force until this summer said a memorandum of trust "may be presented for recordation". The version effective 16 June 2026 says an instrument meeting the requirements shall be of record when the trustee of a disclosed trust conveys an interest in real property. We read both versions side by side rather than relying on a summary.
The disclosure statute exempts a transfer by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a decedent’s estate, a guardianship, a conservatorship, or a trust. Whether a particular sale falls inside that wording depends on the facts, and being exempt from the form has never been permission to mislead a buyer. We have written about the exemptions separately.
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