San Mateo County
Deed Recording

Standard preparation is $325 base fee, which includes the document (San Mateo County grant deed, quitclaim, interspousal, trust transfer, or Affidavit of Death of Trustee) and PCOR. Entity deeds for LLC or Corp transfers are $400 base fee with a 7-14 day ownership-change review. Optional add-ons include Electronic Recording $50, Title Search $30, BOE Form $100, Transfer Tax Affidavit $50, and Notary $15 per signature.

$325 is the base preparation fee. It includes the deed and PCOR plus one revision. County recording fees (about $98 for a standard one-page document) and documentary transfer tax (if applicable) are pass-through costs paid directly to the Clerk-Recorder. Optional add-ons (electronic recording, title search, BOE form, Transfer Tax Affidavit, notary) are billed only if you need them and disclosed at quote.

The City of San Mateo is the only city in the county charging an additional municipal transfer tax, and since Measure CC passed in November 2022 it has been tiered rather than flat. Under San Mateo Municipal Code 3.48 the city rate is 0.5% — $5 per $1,000 where the consideration is under $10 million, and 1.5% — $15 per $1,000 where it is $10 million or more. That sits on top of the $1.10 per $1,000 county documentary transfer tax, so the combined figure is $6.10 or $16.10 per $1,000. Spousal, parent-child, and trust funding transfers qualify for exemption if the correct recital is included on the deed, and the county recorder requires a separate city conveyance tax declaration on the face of any document for property inside the city limits.

You need a grant deed with the proper authority recital, a PCOR, and (in most cases) a declaration statement plus BOE-100-B filing within 90 days. Under the change-in-ownership rules, if ownership splits change by more than 50% the property is reassessed at market value. Our entity deed service ($400 base) includes a 7-14 day review of your operating agreement and member percentages before recording so the transfer is reassessment-protected.

An Affidavit of Death of Trustee is recorded when a trustee of a living trust passes away and a successor trustee takes over property held in the trust. It removes the deceased trustee from title without going through probate. We prepare and e-record the affidavit, certified death certificate copy, and supporting trust pages for the same $325 base preparation fee as our other documents.

Yes. The spousal exclusion removes reassessment for spousal transfers, and they are exempt from documentary transfer tax. We prepare an interspousal San Mateo County grant deed with the correct exemption recital so neither the County nor the City of San Mateo (if applicable) charges transfer tax.

Yes — same-day e-recording through authorized ERDS submission to the County Clerk-Recorder at 555 County Center, Redwood City. We prepare the document (remotely or at our San Jose office), you sign with any notary in California, another state, or overseas, and we e-submit electronically. Stamped copy emailed back within 1 business day.

The Assessor-Clerk-Recorder offers a free Online Grantor-Grantee Database for public record searches. If you’d rather have us run a title search and pull recorded documents for you, our Title Search add-on is $30. For most clients researching their own property, the County’s free database is sufficient.

Yes — all 58 California counties. Same flat $325 base fee, same same-day e-recording. If your property is in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, or any other California county, we handle it remotely from our San Jose office. See all California services →

Yes, and it is a common reason people call. Rejections come from a short list: the legal description was copied from the tax bill instead of the recorded deed, the notary acknowledgment was incomplete or on the wrong form, the documentary transfer tax declaration or exemption statement was missing, the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report was not attached, or the margins failed the recorder’s format rules. For property inside the City of San Mateo, a missing city conveyance tax declaration will also stop it. Send us the rejection notice with the deed and we prepare a compliant version and re-submit it electronically.

You can, and for a simple transfer it sometimes works. The failures we get called about are consistent: the template was written for another state, the exemption recital was left blank or worded generically, the legal description was copied off the tax bill, or the vesting did not match what the family intended. In San Mateo County the recorder also requires the transfer tax declaration on the face of the document, plus a separate city conveyance tax declaration inside San Mateo city limits — neither of which a free form prompts you for. A rejected deed costs you a week; a failed exemption costs considerably more.

Under Proposition 19 the parent-child exclusion applies only to a family home the child makes their own principal residence, the child must file the claim with the County Assessor within the statutory window, and there is a value cap above which part of the assessment is added back. Rentals, second homes, and property the child will not live in are reassessed at current market value. Note that a documentary transfer tax exemption and a reassessment exclusion are separate questions — the County Recorder says so directly. We are not tax advisors, so confirm with the Assessor or a CPA before you sign. See how Proposition 19 works.

It is the state form filed with the deed whenever ownership changes, telling the San Mateo County Assessor what kind of transfer took place — spousal, parent-child, trust, entity, or sale. Filing it does not by itself grant any exclusion: if your transfer qualifies for one, the matching claim form still has to be filed with the Assessor separately. If the report is missing, the recorder charges an additional fee and the Assessor may issue a Change of Ownership Statement afterwards, which carries its own deadline. We prepare the report with every deed we record.

Yes, at the same flat fee no matter where you are. We prepare the deed and email it with signing instructions. From another state you sign before any notary public licensed where you live, scan it back to us, and we e-record it with San Mateo County. 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.

The current recorded deed, or the property address and APN so we can pull it; the exact legal names of everyone giving and receiving the property; how the new owners want to hold title; 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 we claim. Tell us if the property sits inside San Mateo city limits, since the city conveyance tax declaration is an extra requirement. Intake takes about ten minutes and nothing is charged until we confirm the flat fee.

No. TruPoint is a Registered & Bonded California Legal Document Assistant (LDA #268). We prepare documents at your direction. Verify on the County Clerk-Recorder ↗.