Putting Your House in a Living Trust in Kern County
A living trust starts owning your Kern County home when the Kern County Clerk-Recorder on Truxtun Avenue stamps a trust transfer deed — and not a moment before. Kern is one of the cheapest counties in California to record in, at about $19 for a typical deed. It is also the county with the earliest recording cutoff in the state and the strictest rule about how you word your tax exemption. Both are easy to get right once somebody tells you. Here is the complete local recipe. Without a recorded trust, probate on a typical home here runs up to ~$19,000.
Quick facts: recording in Kern County
| Recorder | Kern County Assessor-Recorder / Clerk-Recorder |
| Office | 1530 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301 |
| Hours | Office 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m., but documents are accepted for recording only until 2:00 p.m. — the earliest cutoff of any county in this series |
| Ways to submit | In person in Bakersfield, or by mail to the same address |
| Maximum page size | 8.5"×14"; anything not 8.5"×11" adds $3 per page of the whole document |
| Official fee schedule | Kern County Recorder fees |
What it costs to record a trust transfer deed here
- Documentary transfer tax — $0 for trust transfers. Kern's rate is $0.55 per $500 of value. Exemption #2 on the county's own list is "Deed to or by a Trust not pursuant to a Sale," which is exactly what you are recording.
- Base recording fee — $13 for the first page, $3 for each additional page, and $13 for each additional title.
- Real Estate Fraud fee — $10 per title, but probably not yours. Kern enumerates the titles that carry it, and the list includes quitclaim deeds, deeds of trust, trustee's deeds and reconveyances — but not grant deeds. A quitclaim to your trust records at $23 for the first page; a grant deed records at $13. Use the grant deed; it is also the better instrument for your title insurance.
- SB2 "Building Homes & Jobs" fee — usually $0. The $75-per-title fee (capped at $225) is waived for a transfer of a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier under Gov. Code §27388.1(a)(2). Kern requires a PCOR stating as much to be submitted with it.
- No-PCOR charge — avoidable $20. File the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (BOE-502-A) with the deed and there's no fee.
A clean two-page grant deed to your trust records for $19.
The Kern rule that sends deeds back: write the exemption out in full
Most counties will take a citation. Kern will not.
The county states it plainly: when you claim a documentary transfer tax exemption, the complete verbiage of the exemption must be legibly written or typed on the document — not the exemption number. Writing "Exemption 2" or even "R&T §11930" on its own is not enough. The full sentence has to appear on the face of the deed.
The same discipline applies to the SB2 exemption, which the county wants cited as its code subsection with the owner-occupier language spelled out, backed by the PCOR. Two sentences of extra typing, and it is the difference between recording today and getting an envelope back next week.
How the deed gets recorded, step by step
- Prepare a trust transfer deed — a grant deed conveying the property from you to yourself as trustee — with the full text of the transfer-tax exemption and the SB2 owner-occupier exemption on its face, and the legal description copied exactly from your current deed.
- Complete the PCOR (BOE-502-A). It tells the Assessor the transfer is not a reassessment event, and in Kern it also supports the SB2 exemption.
- Sign before a notary. California requires an acknowledgment; the seal must be photographically reproducible.
- Submit deed + PCOR + fees — at the Truxtun Avenue counter before 2:00 p.m., or by mail.
- Receive the stamped, recorded deed. The recording date and document number on that stamp are the moment your trust actually holds the house.
This is exactly the step Mantle's activation handles: we prepare the deed with the exemptions written out the way Kern wants them, coordinate the online notarization, record with Kern County, and return 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 Kern County Recorder at 1530 Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield, 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, and the PCOR is precisely how the Assessor knows to leave it alone. Prop 19's parent-child limits govern transfers to your children; a revocable trust doesn't trigger them — it holds the status quo in place. Your next tax bill should look identical to your last.
What probate costs on a typical Kern County home
A typical Kern County home runs roughly $325,000 — the most affordable county on this list. That affordability is exactly why families here assume probate is somebody else's problem, and exactly why it hurts when it isn't. California's statutory fee schedule (Probate Code §10810) is calculated on the gross value of the house, not your equity:
| On roughly $325,000 gross | |
|---|---|
| 4% of the first $100,000 | $4,000 |
| 3% of the next $100,000 | $3,000 |
| 2% of the next $125,000 | $2,500 |
| Statutory fee | $9,500 |
| × 2 (executor and attorney may each take it) | up to ~$19,000 |
A $325,000 home with $225,000 still owed leaves $100,000 of equity — and the statutory fee is computed on all $325,000. Against a $19 recording, that is the whole argument. Note where Kern probate is heard, because it isn't where most people look: venue for probate, guardianship and conservatorship matters is the Juvenile Justice Center, 2100 College Avenue, Bakersfield — not the Truxtun Avenue courthouses. Kern probate commonly runs 9–18 months, and cannot close before the four-month creditor claim period ends, with the estate on the public record throughout.
See the math on your own address: Mantle's free probate calculator.
Kern County FAQ
Can I record the deed myself?
Yes. Everything above is the complete recipe, and the Truxtun Avenue counter will accept a properly formatted deed and PCOR from an owner — as long as you arrive before the 2:00 p.m. recording cutoff. County staff cannot prepare documents or give legal advice, so the deed must arrive finished.
Does my mortgage prevent putting the house in a trust?
No. The federal Garn–St. Germain Act bars a lender from calling your loan because you transferred your home into your own revocable living trust. Your mortgage, your rate, and your obligation to pay continue unchanged.
Can I just cite the exemption number to save space?
No — this is the single most Kern-specific rule on this page. The county requires the complete wording of the exemption written or typed on the document. A number alone gets the deed rejected or the tax assessed.
Should I use a grant deed or a quitclaim deed?
A grant deed. In Kern a quitclaim carries the $10 real-estate fraud fee and a grant deed doesn't — $23 versus $13 on the first page. More importantly, a quitclaim conveys only whatever interest you happen to hold, which can cause title-insurance problems later.
What if I also own property in Fresno or Los Angeles County?
Each property records in the county where it sits, so each needs its own deed. See our Fresno County guide or Los Angeles County guide for those counters.
You now know exactly how to record this yourself.
Everything above is the complete recipe — the grant deed, the exemption written out in full, the PCOR, the notary, and the Truxtun Avenue counter before 2:00 p.m. Plenty of Kern County families do it exactly that way, for $19.
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 Kern County, and walk your accounts into the trust: stamped copy returned, confirmed finished. Against the ~$19,000 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: Kern County Assessor-Recorder recording fee schedule, real estate fraud fee notice and documentary transfer tax exemption list; Superior Court of California, County of Kern probate division; California Probate Code §10810; Revenue & Taxation Code §§11911, 11930, 62(d), 480.3; Government Code §§27361, 27388, 27388.1. Fees stated as of August 2026 — confirm against the county's official schedule the week you record. Mantle is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed August 2026.