California Quitclaim Deed Instructions

Step 1: Find the County Recorder for the Property

Your deed is recorded in the county where the property is located, wherever you or the grantee live. Each of California's 58 counties has a recorder, and in some counties the office shares a title with another job, such as the assessor or the county clerk.

You file everything at that one counter. The recorder passes your ownership report on to the county assessor, who is the one who decides what the transfer means for your property tax.

Step 2: Lay Out the First Page for the Recorder

California recorders scan every page they record, so state law sets out how the first page looks. Get these right and the layout won't be the reason your deed comes back:

• Use 8½ by 11 inch paper. The recorder charges an extra $3 for each page of another size.
• Keep the top 2½ inches of the first page for recording information. In the left 3½ inches of that strip, write who is asking for the deed to be recorded, and the name and address where it should be mailed after recording. The rest of the strip stays clear for the recorder's stamp.
• Leave at least ½ inch at both sides of every page.
• Just below that top strip, give the document its title: Quitclaim Deed. The recorder indexes the deed by the title it finds there.
• Put the name and address for future tax bills on the first page as well.

Type or print in dark, clear lettering that will scan cleanly. A sample of how the finished first page fits together is further down this page, under What the First Page Looks Like.

Step 3: Sign Over the Property in the Name You Took Title In

Write your name exactly as it appears on the deed that gave you the property. If your name has changed since then, through marriage, divorce or anything else, California requires the deed to show the name you took title in as well as the name you use now — for example, “Maria Lopez, who took title as Maria Garcia.”

Leaving the old name off doesn't stop the deed from working between you and the grantee. What it does is stop the recorded deed from giving notice to later buyers and lenders, and that notice is most of the reason you record.

If two or more of you own the property and you're all giving up your shares, each of you is a grantor, and each of you signs.

Step 4: Name the Grantee and Say How They'll Own It

Write the grantee's full legal name. If more than one person is receiving the property, the deed should say how they'll own it together, because the choices work differently, most of all when one owner dies:

• Tenants in common. Each owner has a separate share that goes to their own heirs, or wherever their will sends it. Unmarried co-owners get this when the deed says nothing.
• Joint tenants. Equal shares, and when one owner dies the others take that share automatically. The deed has to say “as joint tenants” in so many words. You can deed the property from yourself to yourself and someone else this way, in one deed.
• Community property. Open to spouses and registered domestic partners.
• Community property with right of survivorship. Also for spouses and partners, and the survivor takes the whole property. The deed has to declare it expressly, and the grantees can accept it with a short statement they sign or initial on the deed itself.

Step 5: Use the Word “Quitclaim,” Not “Grant”

In a California deed, the word “grant” carries two promises by law. With it, you're promising that you haven't already conveyed the property, or any part of it, to someone else, and that it's free of liens and claims put on it by you or anyone claiming through you. Those two and nothing more. You don't have to write them out, because the word does it for you.

A quitclaim deed says “quitclaim” instead. The usual wording is that you quitclaim to the grantee all of your right, title and interest in the property, which passes whatever you hold and promises nothing about it.

If you start from a form, read the one sentence that actually transfers the property. The word in that sentence decides what kind of deed you've signed, whatever the heading at the top says.

Step 6: Add the Legal Description

Copy the legal description from your current deed, word for word and number for number. It's the part that pins down exactly which land is changing hands, and a street address can't do that job.

Put the Assessor's Parcel Number on the deed too. You'll find it on your property tax bill, and the ownership report asks for it as well. The parcel number is how the county's tax records find your property, but it isn't a legal description, so it goes next to the description rather than in place of it.

Step 7: Check Whether Your Spouse Must Sign

Single owners can move on to Step 8.

California is a community property state. Broadly, what either of you acquired during the marriage while living in California belongs to both of you, whoever's name is on the title. To sell or give away community real property, both spouses have to sign. Registered domestic partners follow the same rule.

A deed signed by one spouse alone isn't safe. Where the title was in that spouse's name only, the other spouse has one year from the date the deed is recorded to ask a court to set it aside. Separate property is different: a home you owned before you married, or one you inherited or were given, is yours to deed without your spouse's consent, as long as it's still separate. Property can change from separate to community during a marriage, for instance by the kind of written declaration described below, so if you aren't sure, a lawyer can tell you where you stand.

A deed from one spouse to the other doesn't need both signatures, but it needs care. If it moves community property into one spouse's name alone, it can turn that property into that spouse's separate property. California allows that change only in writing, by an express declaration from the spouse who is giving up the interest, and spouses owe each other the highest good faith in any deal between them. So the words on that deed matter more than usual.

Step 8: Sign in Front of a Notary

California won't record your deed until your signature has been acknowledged: you sign in front of a notary, and the notary fills in a certificate saying you proved who you are and confirmed the signature is yours. Some documents can be recorded on a witness's sworn word instead. The law leaves quitclaim deeds out of that, so plan on a notary.

Bring photo ID that's current or was issued in the last five years — a California driver's license or ID card, a U.S. passport, or another ID the law accepts, such as a driver's license from another state. The notary will also ask for your right thumbprint in the notary's journal. California requires that from everyone who signs a deed in front of a California notary.

A California notary's certificate starts with a boxed notice saying the notary confirms only who signed, not whether the document is correct. A certificate from a notary in another state is fine as long as it follows that state's law.

California notaries can't notarize online yet. The law allowing it waits on a technology project at the Secretary of State, which the law expects to be finished by January 1, 2030, though the Secretary of State can report a delay. You can still sign online with a notary from a state whose law lets its notaries work online with signers in other states. California gives that notarization the same effect as one done here, and the company running the video call has to ask whether you're in California and attach your answer to the document.

Step 9: Have the Grantee Complete the Ownership Report

The Preliminary Change of Ownership Report is the grantee's form, and the grantee has to sign it personally. Nobody can sign it for them as their agent. The county assessor and recorder give it out free, and it goes in with the deed when you record. The State Board of Equalization keeps a list of every county assessor in California, with phone numbers, which opens in a new tab.

The report asks for the parcel number, where tax bills should go, whether the grantee will live there, and what kind of transfer this is. A set of yes-or-no boxes is how you tell the assessor what kind of transfer this is — one between spouses or registered domestic partners, between parents and children, or into or out of a revocable trust. The assessor then decides whether it resets the property tax. A box doesn't decide that on its own: a parent-child transfer keeps the old value only if it qualifies under Proposition 19 and the claim form is filed.

If the report isn't with the deed, the recorder can charge an extra $20, and the deed is still recorded once that's paid. The assessor then asks for the same information in writing, and if that request goes unanswered for 90 days, a penalty of at least $100 is added to the property tax bill.

Step 10: Show the Transfer Tax on the Deed

State law lets each county charge a documentary transfer tax when property is sold for more than $100, and it sets the county rate: 55 cents for every $500 of the price, or part of $500 — $1.10 per $1,000. A loan that stays on the property is left out of the figure. A city that follows the state's rules charges half the county rate, and the county credits it, so the total stays the same. Some cities run a transfer tax of their own instead, at rates they set themselves.

The amount goes on the first page, along with whether the property is inside a city or in an unincorporated area. Whoever works out the tax signs that line, and it has to say whether the price left out any loan remaining on the property.

Most family transfers owe nothing. A gift isn't taxed, and neither is property passing because someone died. Moving your home into your own living trust isn't a sale either. A division of community property in a divorce or legal separation is exempt too, but only when the deed carries a written statement, signed by either spouse, saying it qualifies.

When there's nothing to pay, don't leave the line blank. The usual practice is to write $0 with the reason beside it, such as “gift,” so the recorder can see the missing tax isn't an oversight.

Step 11: File Everything With the Recorder

Take or mail the signed deed to the county recorder, along with the ownership report, any Proposition 19 claim, the recording fees and any transfer tax. California does record deeds electronically, but only from submitters that have signed a contract with the county, which usually rules it out for a deed you're filing yourself.

Your deed counts as recorded when the recorder's office accepts it for recording. The recorder marks it with a document number and mails the original back to the name and address you wrote in the top corner. Keep it somewhere safe.

Don't put recording off. An unrecorded deed still binds you and the grantee, but it loses to a later buyer or lender who paid for their interest without knowing about yours and recorded first.

Where do I record a California quitclaim deed?

At the recorder's office for the county where the property sits, no matter where you or the grantee live. California has 58 counties, and each keeps its own land records.

You can take the deed to the recorder's office or mail it. Electronic recording is limited to submitters with a contract with the county. Once the deed is recorded, the recorder mails the original back to the address in its top corner.

Does a California quitclaim deed need witnesses?

No. California doesn't put witnesses on a deed. It needs a notary's acknowledgment, and the law specifically won't let a quitclaim deed be recorded on a witness's sworn statement instead, although some other kinds of documents can be recorded that way.

A witness can come into it in one narrow case: if you have no acceptable ID, a credible witness who knows both you and the notary can sometimes vouch for who you are, under strict conditions.

Does my spouse have to sign a California quitclaim deed?

If the property is community property, yes. Both spouses have to sign to sell or give away community real property, even when only one name is on the title, and registered domestic partners follow the same rule.

Where one spouse signs alone and the title was in that spouse's name only, the other spouse has a year from recording to challenge the deed in court. Separate property, such as a home you owned before the marriage, doesn't need your spouse's signature. A deed between the two of you is outside the rule, but moving community property into one spouse's name can change who owns it, and California only allows that through an express written declaration by the spouse who gives the interest up.

Do I pay California transfer tax if I give my house to a family member?

No. California's documentary transfer tax doesn't apply to a gift, whoever receives it. It's charged when property is sold for more than $100.

On a gift, the tax line on the deed shows nothing due, and the usual practice is to say why, such as “gift.” Some cities run a transfer tax of their own under their own rules. And property tax is a separate question, because a gift to a family member can still reset the assessed value.

Will giving my house to my child raise the property tax in California?

Usually, yes. Since February 16, 2021, a child keeps the parent's assessed value only when the home was the parent's principal residence, becomes the child's within a year, and a claim for the exclusion is filed with the county assessor.

The child also has to file for the homeowners' exemption within a year. Even then the protection stops at the old taxable value plus $1,044,586, for transfers through February 15, 2027, and market value above that is added. A rental house or vacation home doesn't qualify.

Can I get a California quitclaim deed notarized online?

Not by a California notary, yet. California has passed an online notarization law, but its notaries can't use it until the Secretary of State finishes the technology behind it, which the law expects by January 1, 2030.

A notary from a state whose law lets its notaries work online with signers elsewhere can notarize your deed over video while you're in California, and California gives that notarization the same effect as its own. Since 2025, the company running the session has to ask whether you're in California, attach a record of your answer, and keep the recording and journal. Where each state stands is on our online notarization by state page.

Why does a California notary want my thumbprint?

Because California law requires it for deeds. When a California notary notarizes a deed, a quitclaim deed included, the person signing has to put their right thumbprint in the notary's journal.

If your right thumb isn't available, the notary takes another finger and notes that. If you can't give a print at all, the notary writes down why. The print stays in the notary's journal. It doesn't go on the deed.

Does the grantee have to sign a California quitclaim deed?

Not the deed itself. The grantor signs the deed. The grantee signs the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report that goes with it, and has to sign that personally.

The grantees can sign one thing on the deed, though. When spouses or registered domestic partners take title as community property with right of survivorship, they can accept that on the face of the deed with a short statement they sign or initial.

Where do I get a California quitclaim deed form?

California doesn't publish a blank quitclaim deed for you to download. Its law sets out what a deed has to contain before the county recorder will record it, and the form you start from has to carry all of it.

That makes the starting point important. A generic quitclaim form from the internet can miss what California expects: the top 2½ inches of the first page left clear for the recorder, a place for the name and address where tax bills go, the documentary transfer tax line, and a sentence that says “quitclaim” rather than “grant.” Those misses can mean extra charges at the recorder's counter, or a deed that makes promises you never meant to make.

If you'd rather start from something built for California, see our Quitclaim Deed Help page.

What is the difference between a quitclaim deed and a grant deed in California?

One word, and the two promises it brings. A grant deed uses “grant,” which promises that you haven't already conveyed the property to anyone else and that it's free of liens or claims you put on it. A quitclaim deed makes neither promise.

Even a grant deed's promises are narrow. They cover what you did while you owned the property, and nothing that happened before you owned it.

How do I find my California property deed online?

Start with the recorder's office in the property's county. Each of California's 58 recorders runs its own records and decides how much of them it puts online, so there's no single statewide search.

Where a county's index is online, you can look yourself up by name to find the deed's document number. For a copy of the deed itself, the recorder's office will sell you one.