A Riverside County quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest the signer holds in a property to someone else, with no promises about the state of the title. To make the transfer official, you download the county’s free form, fill in the parties and property details, have the grantor sign in front of a notary, and record the original at the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder along with a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report and the recording fees. The deed is most often used between family members, for moves into a living trust, and for name changes after marriage or divorce.
Get the Official Form
The Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder publishes a fillable PDF quitclaim deed on its forms page at rivcoacr.org. You can type into it on a computer, then print it for signing. The county does not accept deeds submitted online. Every recorded deed has to arrive as a physical original, either in person or by mail.1Riverside County Assessor – County Clerk – Recorder. Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Forms
Fill in the Parties
The grantor is the person giving up their interest. The grantee is the person receiving it. Use full legal names exactly as they appear on the current recorded deed. If a name has changed since then, include both forms: “Jane Smith, formerly known as Jane Doe.” For a trust, spell out the full trust name and the trustee’s name.
Only the grantor signs. The grantee does not need to sign or be present.
Identify the Property Correctly
A deed needs two things to pin down the parcel: the Assessor’s Parcel Number and the full legal description. Riverside County APNs run in a three-part format with a check digit (for example, 000-000-000-0), and you can look one up on the county’s property search portal at rivcoview.rivcoacr.org.2Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. RivCoView
The legal description is not a street address. It defines the parcel by lot numbers, tract names, or metes and bounds. Copy it word-for-word from the most recent recorded deed. Small discrepancies can cause the recorder to reject the filing or muddy which parcel was transferred.
Put the Transfer Tax Statement on the Deed
Riverside County’s documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000 of property value (stated on the form as $0.55 per $500). Most quitclaim transfers between family, into a trust, or from a divorce owe no tax, but you cannot simply leave the tax line blank. You have to write the specific exemption on the face of the deed. Common phrasings:
- Gift with no consideration: “This is a bona fide gift and the grantor received nothing in return, R&T 11911.”
- Transfer into a living trust: “This conveyance transfers an interest into a living trust, R&T 11930.”
- Divorce settlement: “This conveyance is in dissolution of marriage by one spouse to the other, R&T 11927.”
- Spouse establishing separate property: “This conveyance establishes sole and separate property of a spouse, R&T 11911.”
- Change in how title is held: “This conveyance changes the manner in which title is held, grantor(s) and grantee(s) remain the same and continue to hold the same proportionate interest, R&T 11911.”
If no exemption statement appears, the recorder collects the tax based on the property’s value.
Return Address
Put a name and mailing address in the upper-left corner of the first page. That is where the recorder ships the original back after recording, and it is also where future tax statements may go. Use an address the grantee actually checks.
Get the Signature Notarized
California law requires a quitclaim deed to be acknowledged before a notary before the county will record it.3California Legislative Information. California Code GOV 27287 The grantor signs in front of a California notary, who verifies identity, watches the signing, and attaches a notarial certificate with a seal. California caps the notary fee at $15 per signature.4California Legislative Information. California Government Code 8211 A mobile notary who comes to you will typically add a trip fee.
Complete the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
Every recorded deed transferring property in California has to be accompanied by a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR). The form tells the assessor what kind of transfer this is so it can decide whether the property gets reassessed. The recorder can charge an extra $20 if you file a deed without one.5California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 480.3 The PCOR itself is free from the county’s website.
Match every field to the deed: same party names, same APN, same transfer date. The transferee (grantee) is the one who signs it. If the transfer qualifies for a property tax reassessment exclusion, such as a parent-to-child transfer or a transfer between spouses, indicate that on the PCOR so the assessor does not trigger a reassessment.
Formatting the Recorder Will Accept
California enforces strict document formatting for recording. Print on standard 8½-by-11-inch white paper. Anything else triggers a $3 surcharge per nonconforming page. Use black or blue ink, dark enough for the recorder’s imaging to pick up.
Leave the top 2½ inches of page one mostly blank. The left 3½ inches of that space is for the return-address block. The right 5 inches is reserved for the recorder’s stamps. Both vertical margins on every page must be at least half an inch. First-page text must be at least 10-point.
The deed also needs a clear title, such as “Quitclaim Deed,” printed on the first page just below the recorder’s reserved space. This is a statewide requirement under Government Code 27324, and the recorder indexes the document from that title.6California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 27324
What Recording Will Cost
Riverside County charges $14 to record the first page and $3 for each additional page.7Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Riverside County ACR Fee Schedule A one-page deed plus a one-page notary acknowledgment runs $17 in base recording fees.
On top of that, Government Code 27388.1 adds a $75 Building Homes and Jobs Act fee (the SB2 fee) to most real estate recordings, applied per document title, per parcel, capped at $225 per transaction. Transfers subject to the documentary transfer tax and transfers of residential property to an owner-occupier are exempt. If your transfer qualifies, put the exemption declaration on the face of the document; otherwise the recorder collects the $75 automatically.8San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Amendment to Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Schedule of Fees
Add up to $15 for the notary, $20 if you forget the PCOR, and any documentary transfer tax that applies. A typical exempt family transfer of a one-page deed lands somewhere between roughly $32 and $112 depending on whether the SB2 fee applies.
Where to File
You can record in person at any of the six Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder offices that offer document recording: Riverside Gateway, Riverside Downtown, Palm Desert, Hemet, Temecula, and Blythe. Current addresses are on the county’s locations page.9Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Locations
To record by mail, send the original signed and notarized deed, the completed PCOR, a check payable to the Riverside County Clerk-Recorder for all fees, and a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 751, Riverside, CA 92502-0751. For UPS or FedEx, ship to 2724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA 92507.10Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. Document Recording Services The recorder keeps a digital copy and mails the original back to the return address on the deed. Expect several weeks for the return.
What the Deed Does Not Do
It Does Not Change the Mortgage
A quitclaim deed transfers ownership. It does nothing to an existing loan. The grantor stays personally liable on the mortgage after signing. The only way off the loan is for the grantee to refinance in their own name or for the lender to formally release the grantor.
Most mortgages also include a due-on-sale clause letting the lender call the full balance when ownership changes. The federal Garn-St Germain Act blocks the lender from enforcing that clause in several common quitclaim situations: transfers to a spouse or children, transfers ordered by a divorce decree, transfers into a living trust where the borrower keeps a beneficial interest and occupies the property, and transfers to a relative after the borrower’s death.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions For any transfer outside those categories, contact the lender before you record.
It Does Not Come with Title Warranties
A quitclaim gives the grantee no promises about the state of the title. If a lien, easement, or ownership dispute surfaces later, the grantee has no warranty claim against the grantor. And the grantor’s existing title insurance policy may stop covering the property after the transfer, because continuation-of-coverage clauses often hinge on the grantor keeping liability through deed warranties, which a quitclaim doesn’t create. For transfers between spouses or into your own trust, that risk is manageable because you already know the history. Outside those situations, weigh whether a grant deed with a title search would fit better.
The Grantor May Still Have a Federal Filing to Do
When a quitclaim moves property as a gift, the IRS may require the grantor to file Form 709. For 2026, gifts up to $19,000 per recipient don’t require a filing, and real property almost always exceeds that.12Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances Filing does not usually mean owing tax. The 2026 lifetime estate and gift tax exclusion is $15 million, so Form 709 typically just reports the gift and reduces the grantor’s remaining lifetime exclusion.13Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Transfers between U.S.-citizen spouses are fully exempt and don’t require Form 709, and transfers incident to a divorce are not treated as gifts.