A clear path from start to recorded deed

Published fees, quoted before you commit to anything. Most deeds are $325, entity deeds $400, certification of trust $200, small estate affidavit $600, affidavit of death $325, title reports from $30, living trust packages $1,300 individual or $1,800 joint, and name change $500. County recording and court filing fees are separate and paid at cost.

After we confirm which document you need and quote the fee — not before. Starting the intake questionnaire costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If it turns out you need something different from what you thought, or nothing at all, we say so at that point.

Most deeds are prepared within 24 hours of intake and can be e-recorded the same business day once signed, in counties that accept electronic recording. Living trust packages take 3–5 business days to a signing appointment. Court filings depend on the court’s calendar. If you have a closing date or a deadline, say so at first contact — that is what sets the schedule.

It is your choice: we work with clients in our office or remotely. You are welcome at 434 Blossom Hill Rd in San Jose if you would rather sit down in person — some people prefer that for a living trust signing — but nothing about the process requires it.

For anything involving real property: the current recorded deed, or the property address and APN so we can pull it; the exact legal names of everyone giving and receiving; and whether the transfer is a gift, a sale, a divorce transfer, or a move into a trust or entity, because that determines the exemption you direct us to claim. For estate documents: the names of everyone involved and who you want as successor trustee. Ten minutes is usually enough.

That is normal, and it is our job rather than yours. Describe the situation — someone died, a divorce judgment says the house is mine, the bank wants proof I am the trustee — and we tell you which document applies before you pay anything. What we cannot do is advise you on what you should want, because that is legal advice and a Legal Document Assistant is not permitted to give it.

Yes, at the same fee. What matters is where the property or the court is, not where you are. From another state you sign before any notary public licensed where you live. From outside the country the acknowledgment is normally taken at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and California also accepts a notary of that country, though some counties want the signature authenticated first. You never travel to California.

Anything that records with a county has to be notarized. You can use any notary licensed where you sign, and we send written instructions covering exactly what the notary needs to do. Locally we can arrange a mobile notary or an in-office signing. The notary fee is paid to the notary and is separate from our fee.

If we prepared it, we correct and re-submit it at no additional preparation fee — you pay the county fee again if one applies, and that is all. Rejections usually come from a short list: a legal description taken from the tax bill, an incomplete notary block, a missing transfer tax declaration, or a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report that was not attached. If someone else prepared the document, send us the rejection notice and we can quote preparing a new, corrected document at your direction — we do not re-submit documents prepared by others.

We will flag anything that will obviously stop it recording. Please note that electronic recording is offered only as part of our document preparation service — we do not record documents prepared by you, an attorney, or another preparer. What we cannot do is tell you whether it is the right document or whether it achieves what you intend — that is legal advice. If you would like a new document prepared at your direction, we prepare it and can e-record it as part of that service.

No. TruPoint Legal is a California Registered Legal Document Assistant office, LDA #268, Santa Clara County, registered and bonded. We prepare documents at your specific direction under Business and Professions Code §6400. We cannot give legal advice, choose your strategy, or appear in court for you. For a routine transfer, that distinction costs you nothing and saves you a great deal; for a contested matter, you want an attorney and we will say so.

Then the work stops being document preparation. A deed everyone agrees on is paperwork; a deed someone is disputing is litigation. The same goes for a trust two beneficiaries read differently or a name change the other parent objects to. We tell you and point you toward an attorney rather than carry on and leave you exposed.

For court matters, the Judicial Council forms are free at selfhelp.courts.ca.gov and court self-help centers will help you complete them at no charge — if cost is the barrier, use them. For deeds, free templates are where most of the problems we get called about begin: written for another state, exemption recital left blank so a property tax exclusion is lost, or a legal description copied off the tax bill. A rejected deed costs a week; a defective one that records costs far more.

All 50 California counties that accept e-recording, at the same fee. Where a county accepts electronic recording we submit directly, and a signed document received before the afternoon cutoff can be on record the same business day. Where a county still requires paper it takes longer — we tell you which applies to yours before you commit.

English, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Spanish. Documents themselves are prepared in English, as courts and county recorders require, but intake and everything we explain to you can be handled in any of the four.

With the last recorded deed, because how title was held decides everything after it. Joint tenants means an affidavit of death of joint tenant. Property in a trust means an affidavit of death of trustee, and the successor trustee usually also needs a certification of trust for the bank. Sole ownership means a probate route — and where the qualifying personal property is $208,850 or less, a small estate affidavit may avoid court entirely. Once you select the document you want prepared, we confirm the fee before any work begins.