What the closing must establish
- The trust exists and hasn't been revoked or restated out from under the deed
- The person signing is the current trustee — including the successor chain if the original trustee died or resigned
- The trustee holds the power of sale (nearly always yes in modern trusts — but the record must show it)
- All required trustees are signing — co-trustee provisions bind
- The trust's name on the deed matches reality (date, restatements, amendments)
The documents that satisfy it
Florida's certification of trust statute lets a concise attorney-prepared certificate stand in for the private trust document. Successor trustees add the paperwork proving succession — death certificates, resignations, acceptance documents. When something's missing (the classic: property never actually deeded into the trust, or a trust nobody can find), that's legal work: the law firm drafts the cure under separate engagement, from simple certifications to full title-repair strategies.
Taxes, homestead, and proceeds
A standard revocable trust is tax-transparent — the sale reports like the grantor's own — but irrevocable trusts, foreign settlors, and post-death sales through trusts change the analysis, sometimes including FIRPTA or estate-tax coordination points for your tax professional. Proceeds are disbursed to the trust, not to beneficiaries directly, unless the trustee properly directs otherwise. We paper the flow correctly so the distribution questions stay clean.