Trailer GVWR vs Vehicle ratings

I was doing some reading on various sites/forums was hoping someone here could help me.

A few people have said that the GVWR of your trailer cannot legally exceed the the tow ratings of your tow vehicle in some states. Though they didn't specify if that means the tow rating or GCWR.

This seems wrong to me and I have tried to find a law like this and have come up with nothing. All I have seen is anecdotes online, but no actual state laws that match this. Only looking for laws pertaining to regular folks, I know CDL is a whole different ball game.

Seems highly unlikely that there is a law on the books anywhere the says such a thing. For example, that would make simply towing the trailer below unloaded (~2800lbs) with a Tundra illegal. That just seems wrong.

https://www.bigtextrailers.com/14ee-tandem-axle-equipment

 

It could be a liability if you caused an accident and were above GVWR, GAWR, and/or GCWR. I figure it’s best to keep it within those criteria. So for Tundra, let’s say you don’t exceed GAWR and you want the vehicle at GVWR (7200 lbs) and total combination at GCWR (16000 lbs) after hooking up the trailer.
That means your max trailer weight plus hitching equipment will be 9778 lbs and your vehicle weight needs to be at 6222 lbs. That’s pretty close to the max trailer weight advertised by Toyota (9800 lbs).

Finally, even though your trailer GVWR is X, it can actually weigh less.

You can tow a huge 28 ft 14,000 lbs GVWR box trailer with your Tundra but it may be empty (weighs 5000 lbs empty maybe). So you can prove you’re not exceeding the ratings.

Ultimately it’s up to you to decide what is comfortable.

 

So I'm not actually buying that trailer or any other trailer at the moment. However it demonstrates the scenario I am trying to find legislation about perfectly. I appreciate the responses, but that wasn't quite the info I was looking for. I'm already well versed in the various load ratings and how to stay safe/legal.

So focusing on the snippets of your posts. Lets say I have that trailer from my initial post, which according to Big Tex is 2800lbs dry (that seems light, but whatever its an example scenario)

Tundra
GVWR 7200
GCWR 16000
Curb weight 6400 (what my truck actually weighs with me in it)

Trailer
Curb weight 2800
GVWR 14000

Theoretical Max GCWR 21,200

Pretend I am towing the trailer empty for the sake of argument
GCW of truck and empty trailer ~9300

Is there a state law anywhere in the US (for non CDL) that states this combination would be illegal due to the theoretical GCWR being over what Toyota has rated the truck for? Are there really states where you could get a ticket for this? I can find no such law, but have seen it posted elsewhere that such laws exist in some states.

In my mind, as long as the actual weights are safely within all of the ratings for truck and trailer, then you are fine. As ColoradoTJ mentioned, a trailer with the beefier axles is nice to have even if you don't use it to capacity. There a safety benefits to that as well, which is why I'm curious to see if there are laws that would effectively prohibit this scenario.