To put a Los Angeles County property into your living trust, you record a grant deed at the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk that moves title from you as an individual to yourself as trustee, together with a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report and a Declaration of Documentary Transfer Tax claiming the trust exemption. There is no separate instrument called a trust transfer deed in California; in Los Angeles County the standard tool is an ordinary grant deed prepared and recorded correctly, so your Proposition 13 tax base survives and the recorder accepts the filing on the first try.
Which Deed to Use
A grant deed is the right instrument. It carries implied warranties that you actually own the property and haven’t already encumbered it with undisclosed liens, which keeps the chain of title clean for any later sale or refinance.1Sacramento County Public Law Library. Deed of Trust and Promissory Note – Step by Step Guide Some attorneys use an interspousal transfer deed when community property is being moved into a joint trust, but for most homeowners the grant deed is the correct choice.
Do not confuse this with a “deed of trust.” A deed of trust secures a mortgage loan and has nothing to do with living trusts beyond the shared word. Recording one of those in place of a grant deed transfers nothing into your trust.
What the Deed Must Contain
Every piece of information on the new deed has to line up with existing records, or the Registrar-Recorder will reject the filing.
- Assessor’s Parcel Number. LA County requires the APN on all deeds; you’ll find it on your annual property tax bill from the LA County Assessor.2Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Recording Requirements
- Legal description. The full lot, block, and tract description from your current deed. A street address is not enough.
- Grantor name. Your name exactly as it appears on the current recorded deed. Even a small variation can trigger rejection.
- Grantee designation. The grantee is the trustee, not the trust itself. Use a form like “John A. Smith, Trustee of the Smith Family Trust, dated January 1, 2025,” and list every co-trustee.
- Notary acknowledgment. California requires a notary acknowledgment on every grant deed before it will be accepted. You sign in the notary’s physical presence.3Justia Law. California Civil Code Article 3 – Proof and Acknowledgment of Instruments
The Two Companion Forms
Declaration of Documentary Transfer Tax
Los Angeles County normally charges a documentary transfer tax of $1.10 per $1,000 of value when real estate changes hands.4Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Documentary Transfer Taxes On a $900,000 home that would run $990. Transfers into a living trust are exempt under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 11930, which covers property moved by gift or into trust for the benefit of any person.5California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 11930 No money changes hands and beneficial ownership doesn’t shift when you move property into your own revocable trust.
To claim the exemption you have to do two things. Cite Revenue and Taxation Code Section 11930 on the face of the deed, and complete the Declaration of Documentary Transfer Tax explaining why no tax is due.6Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Declaration of Documentary Transfer Tax Miss either step and you risk being charged the full tax or having the deed sent back.
Preliminary Change of Ownership Report
The Preliminary Change of Ownership Report, or PCOR, goes to the LA County Assessor and describes the transfer so they can decide whether to reassess.7Los Angeles County Assessor. Change in Ownership California law authorizes the recorder to charge an additional $20 fee if you record without one.8Justia Law. California Revenue and Taxation Code 480.3
Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 62, transferring property into a revocable trust is specifically excluded from reassessment as long as you remain the present beneficiary or the trust stays revocable.9California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code 62 On the PCOR you indicate the transfer is into a revocable trust with no purchase price paid. Those entries tell the Assessor to leave your Proposition 13 base alone. An accidental reassessment to current market value on a home bought decades ago could multiply your annual tax bill, so this form matters as much as the deed itself.
Where to Record and What It Costs
The full package goes to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The main office is in Norwalk, and there are several branch locations across the county. You can also submit by mail if a trip to Norwalk isn’t practical.
Recording fees follow California Government Code Section 27361: $15 for the first page and $3 for each additional page.10Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Recording Fees A grant deed typically runs two or three pages.
The bigger line item is the Building Homes and Jobs Act fee under Government Code Section 27388.1, which adds $75 per recorded document per parcel.11California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 27388.1 One statutory exemption covers documents recorded in connection with a transfer subject to the documentary transfer tax. Because trust transfers are exempt from that tax, this exemption generally does not apply, and the $75 is owed. A separate exemption covers transfers of a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier, which may reach some trust transfers where you continue living in the home. If you believe that exemption applies, declare it on the face of the document before submitting.
Common Reasons the Recorder Rejects a Deed
The recorder reviews every document for compliance before accepting it. The frequent problems are names that don’t match the existing deed, an incomplete or missing legal description, a notary acknowledgment that’s expired or improperly formatted, margins or font sizes outside the recorder’s standards, and a missing or incomplete APN. A rejected deed means fixing the error and paying the fees again on resubmission, so it’s worth checking the package twice before you file.
If the Property Has a Mortgage
Moving mortgaged property into a living trust does not trigger the loan’s due-on-sale clause. Federal law under the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act prohibits lenders from calling a residential loan due when property is transferred into a living trust, provided the borrower remains a beneficiary and the transfer doesn’t grant occupancy rights to someone else.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions The protection covers residential property with fewer than five dwelling units.
A few practical points. The law preserves your loan terms but doesn’t release you from personal liability; you still owe the payments. It doesn’t require the lender to formally approve the transfer or retitle the loan in the trust’s name. Even so, telling your servicer is worth doing, since some have internal procedures for trust transfers and it prevents confusion around payments and escrow. Check your loan documents before recording, because some contain notification requirements. Note that this federal protection does not extend to transfers into an LLC or other business entity; those require direct lender approval.
Updating Title and Homeowners Insurance
Recording the deed changes who holds legal title, and your insurance needs to catch up. Title insurance policies issued in roughly the last ten years often include language extending coverage after a transfer to a revocable trust where the original owner remains a beneficiary. Older policies may not. If yours doesn’t, contact the title company and ask for an endorsement so coverage carries over. Otherwise the trust owns property with no title insurance protection, and that can surface as a serious problem during a later sale.
Homeowners insurance is simpler. Call your insurer and add the trust as an additional insured, giving them the trustee names, the trust name, and the date the trust was created. The insurer may endorse the existing policy or rewrite it. Skipping this step can create coverage disputes on a future claim.
What Happens If You Never Record the Deed
A living trust only governs property that has actually been re-titled into it. Sign every trust document with your attorney but never record a deed on the house, and the property passes through probate as if the trust didn’t exist. California formal probate typically takes 9 to 18 months, with the initial filing fee alone at $435 and attorney and executor fees set by statute as a percentage of the estate’s value, which adds up fast on LA County real estate.13California Courts. Overview of Formal Probate Probate is also public: property value, beneficiary names, and terms of distribution all enter the court record.
If you’ve already created a trust and aren’t sure the property was ever moved into it, pull your current deed from the LA County Registrar-Recorder’s online portal. If the grantee line doesn’t name your trustee and trust, the property isn’t in the trust, and you need to record a new grant deed to put it there.