Santa Cruz CountyDeed Transfer

You prepare the correct document for your transfer, sign it before a notary, and submit it to the Santa Cruz County Recorder with the required forms and fees. We handle every step for you — preparing the document, arranging notarization, and e-recording it the same business day — for $325.

Our fee is $325 for a standard deed and $400 for a property held by an LLC or corporation. The county’s own recording fee and any transfer tax are separate, set by the county and state; we confirm the exact amount up front and remit it on your behalf.

Yes. Santa Cruz County supports electronic recording. Once your document is signed and notarized, we submit it electronically, and same-day e-recording is available. That matters most on a refinance or wire-funding deadline, where a mailed paper filing would take too long.

No. We prepare and e-record everything remotely from our office, so you never have to drive to the Recorder on Ocean Street. This is how we serve owners across the county, from Scotts Valley and Felton to Capitola, Aptos, and Watsonville.

It depends on the transfer. California excludes certain transfers from reassessment — between spouses, into a revocable trust, and some parent-to-child transfers — when the matching exclusion form is filed with the deed. We prepare the document and the exclusion form so a transfer that qualifies isn’t reassessed by mistake.

Grant, quitclaim, interspousal transfer, trust transfer, and Transfer on Death instruments, plus affidavits of death of a joint tenant or trustee, deeds of trust, and easements. You identify what your situation calls for; we prepare and record it.

Usually not. Title and escrow companies handle recording as part of a sale with escrow. For a non-sale transfer — adding a name, funding a trust, a family gift — there is no buyer and no closing, so they decline. That is exactly the work we do.

We prepare most filings within 1–3 business days. After you sign before a notary, we e-record with the county and email your stamped copy — typically 1–2 business days from signing, with same-day e-recording where the county accepts it.

Yes. We work with owners nationwide who hold Santa Cruz real estate, including coastal second homes. We prepare the deed, coordinate notarization wherever you are, and e-record it with the county, all remotely — so distance is never a barrier.

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.

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. A rejected deed costs you a week. A deed that records with a failed exemption is worse, because the reassessment notice arrives months later and by then the deed is already on the public record.

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 — which matters here, because coastal second homes rarely qualify. We are not tax advisors, so confirm with the Assessor or a CPA before you sign. We prepare the deed, the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report, and the exclusion claim form together. See how Proposition 19 works.

It depends on how title was held, which is written on the last recorded deed. Joint tenants means an affidavit of death of joint tenant. Community property with right of survivorship means an affidavit of death of surviving spouse. Property held in a trust means an affidavit of death of trustee. If the deceased owned in their name alone, nothing passes automatically and a probate procedure applies instead. Once you select the document you want prepared, we confirm the fee before any work begins.

California does not require one. A Registered Legal Document Assistant prepares deeds at your direction under Business and Professions Code section 6400, at a published fee. Attorney involvement fits contested title disputes and litigated tax challenges; for a routine transfer such as adding a spouse, gifting to a child, funding a trust, or moving a property into an entity, an LDA is the cost-efficient path. TruPoint Legal is LDA #268, Santa Clara County, registered and bonded. We are not attorneys and we do not give legal advice.

It is the state form filed with the deed whenever ownership changes, telling the Santa Cruz 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.

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 you direct us to claim. Intake takes about ten minutes online and nothing is charged until we confirm the fee.