Putting Your House in a Living Trust in Contra Costa County
If you own a home in Contra Costa County, moving it into a living trust comes down to one physical act: recording a trust transfer deed with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in Martinez. Until that deed is recorded, the trust doesn't own your house — no matter how beautifully the trust document is drafted. Here's exactly how recording works in this county, what it costs, and what happens to a Contra Costa home that never makes it into a trust. Without a recorded trust, probate on a typical home here runs up to ~$39,000.
Quick facts: recording in Contra Costa County
| Recorder | Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder (Kristin B. Connelly) |
| Office | 555 Escobar Street, Martinez, CA 94553 — open Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m., with extended hours until 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month |
| Ways to submit | In person (Martinez), by mail, or electronically through an authorized e-recording submitter |
| Official fee schedule | Recorder fee schedule — the county revises fees each January; the current schedule took effect January 1, 2026 |
| Typical e-recording turnaround | A few business days; mail takes considerably longer |
What it costs to record a trust transfer deed here
The good news first: transferring your own home into your own revocable living trust is exempt from the taxes that make other transfers expensive.
- Documentary transfer tax — $0 for trust transfers. Contra Costa's rate is $0.55 per $500 of value (Richmond adds a city tax), but a transfer into your own revocable trust is exempt under Revenue & Taxation Code §11930. The exemption must be stated on the face of the deed.
- SB2 "Building Homes & Jobs" fee — usually $0. This $75-per-title fee (capped at $225) is waived for transfers to an owner-occupier of a residential dwelling — which describes most primary-residence trust transfers. The exemption must be declared on the document.
- Base recording fees — modest. First page plus a small per-page fee for additional pages, plus minor surcharges (real-estate fraud fee, survey monument fee where a metes-and-bounds description is used). As of the county’s January 1, 2026 schedule that is $14 for the first page and $3 for each additional page, plus a $3 real-estate fraud fee on most recorded titles — budget roughly $20–$120 all-in depending on exemptions and page count, and check the county's official fee schedule the week you record — Contra Costa updates fees each January 1.
- No-PCOR penalty — avoidable $20. Every ownership-changing deed must be accompanied by a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (form BOE-502-A). File it with the deed and there's no charge; omit it and the county adds $20 and the assessor comes asking anyway.
Formatting matters more than fees. Contra Costa rejects deeds that don't scan on its high-speed equipment: leave the top 2.5" of page one blank for the recording label, keep pages at 8.5"×11" (each nonconforming page adds $3), no highlighters, no bold-obscured text.
How the deed gets recorded, step by step
- Prepare a trust transfer deed (a grant deed conveying the property from you to you-as-trustee), with the transfer-tax and SB2 exemptions cited on its face and the legal description copied exactly from your current deed.
- Complete the PCOR (BOE-502-A) — it tells the Assessor this transfer doesn't trigger reassessment.
- Sign before a notary. California requires acknowledgment; the notary's seal must be photographically reproducible.
- Submit deed + PCOR + fees — at the Martinez counter, by mail with a check (you can write a "not to exceed" amount), or through an e-recording submitter, which is how it comes back in days instead of weeks.
- Receive the stamped, recorded deed. That stamp — book, page, document number — is the moment your trust actually holds the house.
This recording step is exactly what Mantle's activation does for you: we prepare the deed with the correct exemptions, coordinate the online notarization, e-record with Contra Costa County, and hand you back the stamped copy — confirmed done, not left as homework.
How it works · everything upfront
A conversation, not a form. She drafts your living trust, will, power of attorney and healthcare directive as you talk.
Download the documents and read every line. Change anything. Nothing is charged, and nothing expires.
An online video notary session, opened from your dashboard with your documents already loaded.
Your deed filed with the Contra Costa County Recorder at 555 Escobar Street in Martinez, the stamped copy returned to you — and your accounts walked into the trust, one by one.
Will this raise my property taxes? (The Prop 13 question)
No. Transferring your home into your own revocable living trust is not a change in ownership under Revenue & Taxation Code §62(d). Your Prop 13 base-year value carries over untouched — the PCOR is precisely how the Assessor knows to leave it alone. Your property tax bill after recording should look identical to the one before.
What probate costs on a typical Contra Costa home
A typical Contra Costa County home runs roughly $825,000. If it passes through probate instead of a trust, California's statutory fee schedule (Probate Code §10810) applies to the gross value — not your equity:
| On roughly $825,000 gross | |
|---|---|
| 4% of the first $100,000 | $4,000 |
| 3% of the next $100,000 | $3,000 |
| 2% of the next $625,000 | $12,500 |
| Statutory fee | $19,500 |
| × 2 (executor and attorney may each take it) | up to ~$39,000 |
That's before court costs, appraisal fees, and 12–18 months in the probate division of the Superior Court at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court Street in Martinez, where all Contra Costa probate matters are filed and heard — during which the estate is public record. A recorded, funded living trust is how a Contra Costa home skips all of it.
See the math on your own address: Mantle's free probate calculator.
Contra Costa FAQ
Can I record the deed myself?
Yes. Everything above is the complete recipe — the county counter in Martinez will accept a properly formatted deed and PCOR from any owner. The county staff cannot help prepare documents or give legal advice, so the deed must arrive correct.
Does my mortgage prevent putting the house in a trust?
No. Federal law (the Garn–St. Germain Act) bars lenders from calling a loan because you transferred your home into your own revocable living trust. Your mortgage, and your obligation to pay it, continue unchanged.
I live in Richmond — does the city transfer tax apply?
Not to a trust transfer. Richmond's city documentary transfer tax applies to sales; a transfer into your own revocable trust is exempt the same way the county tax is, with the exemption cited on the deed.
How long until the deed comes back?
E-recorded documents are typically returned stamped within a few business days. Mailed documents take weeks — if you go the mail route, use the "not to exceed" check memo so a small fee miscalculation doesn't bounce the whole package.
You now know exactly how to record this yourself.
Everything above is the complete recipe — the deed, the PCOR, the notary, the Contra Costa County counter. Plenty of families do it that way.
What we do is steps 3 and 4. The trust itself — and the will, the power of attorney and the healthcare directive — we draft for nothing, and you can read every line before you decide. For a flat $499 we notarize on video, record the deed with Contra Costa County, and walk your accounts into the trust: stamped copy returned, confirmed finished. Against the ~$39,000 probate math above, the part we charge for is the cheapest line in this whole story.
Steps 1–2 free · $499 covers steps 3–4
Sources: Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder recording fees and general information pages; California Probate Code §10810; Revenue & Taxation Code §§11930, 62(d); Government Code §27388.1 (SB2). Mantle is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed August 2026.