Quitclaim Deed
in California

A California quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest you have in a property, with no warranty that the title is clear. It’s used in trusted, non-sale situations: adding or removing a spouse, transferring to a family member, gifting property, funding a living trust, or correcting a title error. It’s not used for arm’s-length sales, where a grant deed protects the buyer.

Yes. If the quitclaim has a wrong legal description, an incorrect parcel number, or a defective notary acknowledgment, the public record no longer matches the property — that’s a cloud on title. Clearing it usually requires a quiet-title lawsuit, which costs far more than preparing the deed correctly the first time. TruPoint Legal confirms the legal description against the existing record before recording.

TruPoint Legal prepares a California quitclaim deed for a flat $325, or $400 for an entity (LLC or corporation) transfer. County recording fees and optional add-ons are separate and itemized. California attorneys typically charge $1,000–$2,000 for the same deed.

No. A quitclaim deed changes who is on title, but it does not change the mortgage. The mortgage is a separate contract with the lender. Removing someone from the loan requires refinancing or the lender’s release — the deed alone does not do it.

When a divorce judgment awards the home to one spouse, the other signs a quitclaim or interspousal transfer deed giving up their interest. Done with the right language, it qualifies for the interspousal exclusion so the property is not reassessed. TruPoint Legal prepares the correct deed for a flat $325 and e-records the same business day.

It can, if the right exclusion isn’t claimed. Transfers between spouses, into a living trust, or qualifying parent-child transfers can avoid reassessment — but only if the exclusion language and the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report are completed correctly. A missed exclusion can mean a permanent reassessment of $11,000–$15,000 per year.

Yes. A California Registered Legal Document Assistant can prepare and e-record a quitclaim deed at your direction. TruPoint Legal is LDA #268, Santa Clara County, registered and bonded. We prepare the deed to the County Recorder’s format and record it in any of California’s 58 counties.

When the signed deed and PCOR are in hand before noon, TruPoint Legal e-records with the County Recorder the same business day in most California counties. Most quitclaim deeds are prepared within 24 hours of intake — useful when a divorce, closing, or family deadline is approaching.

A grant deed warrants that the grantor hasn’t already sold the property and that it’s free of undisclosed encumbrances they created — it’s used for sales. A quitclaim makes no such promise; it transfers only whatever interest the grantor has. Quitclaims fit trusted family transfers; grant deeds fit sales where the buyer needs protection.

You sign a deed conveying an interest from yourself to yourself and the other person together, and it is notarized and recorded with the county along with a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report. The part people get wrong is the vesting: joint tenancy, tenants in common, and community property with right of survivorship all behave very differently when one of you dies. We ask how you want to hold title before we draft, because changing it afterwards means recording a second deed. If you are adding a spouse, an interspousal transfer deed is usually the better instrument.

You can, and for a simple transfer between people who trust each other it sometimes works. The failures we get called about are consistent: the template was written for another state, the documentary transfer tax declaration or exemption was left blank, the legal description was copied off the tax bill instead of the recorded deed, or the vesting was stated in a way that did not match what the family intended. A rejected deed costs you a week. A deed that records with the wrong legal description or wrong vesting clouds the title, and clearing that later costs far more than $325.

Yes. We serve all 58 California counties and the whole process is remote, at the same flat $325 no matter where you are.

Another state: we prepare the deed, email it to you with signing instructions, and you take it to any notary public licensed where you live. We tell you what the notary needs to do and how to find one nearby. You scan the notarized deed back to us and we e-record it with the California county.

Outside the country: same process, with instructions written for signing abroad. 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. We confirm which route your county accepts before you book an appointment.

Yes, and it is a common reason people call. Rejections come from a short list: the legal description did not match the recorded deed, the notary acknowledgment was incomplete or on the wrong form, the documentary transfer tax declaration or exemption statement was missing, the PCOR was not attached, or the page margins did not meet the recorder’s format rules. Send us the rejection notice and the deed and we prepare a compliant version and e-record it.

It will move the property, but it is usually not the right instrument. A quitclaim carries no warranty, and some title insurers treat a quitclaim into a trust as breaking the chain of covenants, which can complicate a later sale or refinance. Most California trusts are funded with a trust transfer deed instead, which is the same $325 and avoids the question entirely. If your trust was drafted but the house was never moved into it, that is the single most common reason families end up in probate anyway.

The current recorded deed, or the property address and APN so we can pull it; the exact legal names of everyone giving up and receiving an interest; how the new owners want to hold title; and whether the transfer is a gift, a divorce transfer, or something else, because that determines the transfer tax exemption we claim. Intake takes about ten minutes online and nothing is charged until we confirm the flat fee.

Yes to the notary. California will not record a deed unless the signature is acknowledged before a notary public. Recording fees are paid to the county at cost and are separate from our $325. They vary by county and by document, and California adds a $75 per title state fee to many recordings unless the transaction is exempt. We tell you the exact figure for your county before you pay anything.