Putting Your House in a Living Trust in Marin County

For a San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, Belvedere, Corte Madera, Larkspur, San Anselmo, Fairfax, Ross, Kentfield, Greenbrae, Marin City, Stinson Beach, Bolinas, Point Reyes Station, Inverness or San Geronimo Valley homeowner, a living trust becomes real at one counter: the Marin County Recorder in Room 232 of the Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Drive in San Rafael, where your trust transfer deed gets stamped into the public record. A trust that never reaches that counter doesn't own your house. Here's how recording works in this county, which fees apply to a trust transfer and which don't, and what probate would take from a typical Marin County home. Without a recorded trust, probate on a typical home here runs up to ~$56,000.

Quick facts: recording in Marin County

What it costs to record a trust transfer deed here

Marin publishes its recording fee the itemized way: $14 for the first page of every document title and $3 for each additional page, with two per-title surcharges stacked on top of certain documents. The $75 SB2 charge sits on the schedule as its own line, and that is the number to understand before you go, because for most primary-residence trust transfers it does not apply. The $10 District Attorney fraud fee is the other one to read closely, because it turns on which form your deed takes.

• SB2 is the whole difference. The county's SB2 fee page says a $75 fee applies to each document title recorded in California under Government Code §27388.1, capped at $225 per transaction, and then lists the ways out, among them a document that "transfers a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier," which describes most primary-residence trust transfers. The county gives two ways to claim it: "Include a valid exemption statement on the face of the document," or attach the county's SB2 Exemption Cover Page, about which the same page says, "This will be an additional fee, and become part of the official record." The fee schedule puts it the same way: a declaration "on the face of the document or on a cover page that will be affixed to and will become part of the document." And the rule when you forget: "If the exemption is not stated, the SB2 fee will apply." Write it on the first page of the deed itself, citing GC §27388.1(a)(2); the cover page works too, but it is another page, and the county says it costs one: count $3. This guide could not open the cover page form itself, only the page that describes it.
• The $2 Restrictive Covenant fee is not on Marin's schedule. Government Code §27388.2 lets a county add $2 per title, and its subdivision (b) excuses a transfer of a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier. Marin's fee schedule and its web fee page have no $2 line and cite §27388 and §27388.1 only. There is nothing to declare under that section here; if a line appears on a later schedule, the same owner-occupier declaration covers it.
• Documentary transfer tax: $0 for the county's share. The county rate under Revenue & Taxation Code §11911 is $0.55 per $500 of value, "based on full value less assumed liens," and a transfer into your own revocable trust is exempt under §11930. State an amount of $0 and the reason on the deed, as R&T §11932 asks. The Recorder's recording page lists a Documentary Transfer Tax Transmittal among its forms, a worksheet with a declaration under penalty of perjury; the county's pages this guide read do not say when the Recorder wants it with an exempt deed, so bring one filled out and let the counter decline it. San Rafael is the one city with a tax of its own: the county's fee page lists "City of San Rafael Tax in addition to County tax - based on full value" at $2.00 per $1,000, and the transmittal adds that there is "no exclusion for assumed liens on San Rafael tax portion." The WFG and Fidelity (January 2026) title-industry tables show San Rafael at that rate and no other Marin city; Novato, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, Larkspur, San Anselmo and the rest show none. San Rafael is a charter city with a transfer tax ordinance of its own, and this guide could not read that ordinance, so it cannot tell you whether the city's own code excuses a transfer to a revocable trust the way §11930 excuses the county's share; a transfer of your own home into your own trust has no price and no "full value" changes hands, and the county's fee page does not say how the Recorder treats the city line on an exempt deed. If your house is inside the San Rafael city limits, call the Recorder at (415) 473-6092 before you record, and see the FAQ on Measure W.
• The fraud fee depends on the title, and a quitclaim deed is on Marin's list. The county charges the District Attorney Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Trust fee at $10 per document title on 28 titles: Abstract of Judgment, Affidavit, Deed of Trust and its amendments, assignments and modifications, Assignment of Lease, Assignment of Rents, CC&Rs, Declaration of Homestead, Easement, Lease, liens of every kind, Lot Line Adjustment, Notice of Completion, Notice of Default, Notice of Trustee Sale, Reconveyance, Release, Request for Notice, Subordination Agreement, Substitution of Trustee, Trustee's Deed Upon Sale, UCC filings, and Quitclaim Deed. A grant deed is not on the list. A trust transfer deed written as a grant deed, the ordinary form, pays $14 for its first page; one written as a quitclaim pays $24. The fee has been $10 since January 1, 2018, when the Board of Supervisors raised it from $3 and widened the list.
• The survey monument fee is printed on every transfer document. Marin's schedule lists the $10 under Government Code §27585 and chapter 3.49 of the county code, and its fee page says only "Applies to transfer documents only." The statute itself applies the fee to grant deeds and exempts one conveying a lot created by a recorded tract map. A subdivision home in Novato, Terra Linda or Lucas Valley whose deed reads "Lot 14 of Tract No. …" is the statute's exempt case; a parcel described by metes and bounds, common in West Marin, on the hillsides of Mill Valley and San Anselmo and in the older parts of Ross and Kentfield, pays the $10. The county's own survey monument fee sheet would not open for this guide, so budget the $10 and ask at the counter if your deed conveys a tract lot.
• Non-conforming pages cost more. A page that isn't 8½ x 11 adds $3 for every page of the entire document, and small print, more than nine lines to the vertical inch or more than 22 characters to the horizontal inch, adds $1 a page. Clean, standard pages avoid both.
• PCOR: file it or pay $20. The Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (BOE-502-A) rides along with the deed at no charge. The county's fee schedule lists a $20 "fee for not filing a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report at time of transfer," and its BOE-502-A page says that without one "the Recorder may charge an additional recording fee of twenty dollars ($20)." Without it the Assessor has nothing telling it not to reassess you.
• The base is still $14 and $3. Marin's schedule keeps the $14 first page and $3 additional page; the county has not adopted the $15 and $4 figures some counties have taken up under AB 1430. The PDF schedule is headed January 1, 2022 and the web page was updated in December 2025, so check the schedule the week you record.

Figures are from the county's Recorder fee schedule, recording fees, SB2 fee, SB2 Exemption Cover Page, where-do-I-record, office hours, contact, Documentary Transfer Tax Transmittal and BOE-502-A pages, read November 2026. Confirm against the official schedule the week you record.

How the deed gets recorded, step by step

1. Prepare a trust transfer deed conveying the property from you to you-as-trustee, with the transfer-tax exemption (R&T §11930, "$0" and the reason on the face of the deed) and the SB2 owner-occupier exemption written on its first page, the Assessor's Parcel Number, the address where tax statements should be mailed (Government Code §27321.5 requires it on every deed), each signer's name printed under the signature, and the legal description copied exactly from your current deed. Put the name of the party requesting recording and the return address in the top left of page one, leave the top 2½ inches of that page for the Recorder's stamp, set the title on page one, and keep at least a ½ inch margin on 8½ x 11 paper, the statewide format under Government Code §27361.6. The county's own basic recording requirements page would not open for this guide, so these are the state's rules; the Recorder's office says its staff "is forbidden by California legal codes to practice law or provide legal advice," including which forms you need or how to fill them out, and it does not supply deed forms.
2. Complete the PCOR (BOE-502-A).
3. Sign before a notary. The acknowledgment must be the California all-purpose form, and the seal must reproduce; a faint one can be cured with the county's Illegible Notary Seal Declaration under Government Code §27361.7, which the county says "you may use when the notary seal on a document is illegible," at the cost of another page. The county's pages publish no notary acceptance policy for an out-of-state or remote online notarization, so this guide cannot say how the Room 232 counter treats one on paper; a document that arrives electronically through an authorized submitter is the path the notarization providers use.
4. Submit deed + PCOR + fees at the Room 232 counter by 3:00 p.m., by mail to P.O. Box C, or through an authorized e-recording submitter, which is the fast path. Marin has recorded electronically since July 2016 over the state's SECURE network; the county's announcement names the submitters it accepts, "certified title insurers, institutional lenders, underwritten title companies, and local, state, and federal government agencies," and CSC's notice says it submits to Marin. An individual owner records at the counter or by mail. The county offers a courtesy copy of the recorded deed at no fee if you ask at the time of recording and bring your own copy; by mail, add a self-addressed stamped envelope.
5. Receive the stamped deed back. The Recorder returns the recorded original to the name and address in the "Mail To" block on the first page. The county's pages don't publish how long that mailing takes; the trust holds the house from the moment of recording, not from the day the copy arrives.

This is the step Mantle's activation handles end to end: correct deed, correct exemptions, online notarization, e-recorded with Marin County through an authorized submitter, stamped copy returned and confirmed. A recorded fact, not weekend homework.

Will this raise my property taxes? (The Prop 13 question)

No. A transfer into your own revocable living trust is not a change in ownership under Revenue & Taxation Code §62(d), so your Prop 13 base-year value is preserved. In the flats of Mill Valley and the Sausalito hills, in Tiburon and Belvedere, along the canal and in the Gerstle Park and Sun Valley blocks of San Rafael, in Corte Madera, Larkspur and Greenbrae, in San Anselmo, Fairfax and the San Geronimo Valley, and on a West Marin parcel in Point Reyes Station, Inverness or Tomales held since the 1970s, where the assessed value may be a small fraction of what the property would sell for, that base is often the most valuable thing about the property, and moving it into your own trust does not disturb it. The PCOR is how the Assessor learns the transfer is excluded; that is why it matters that it goes in with the deed.

What probate costs on a typical Marin County home

A typical Marin County home sells for roughly $1,500,000. Zillow's typical home value for the county was $1,484,731 at the end of September 2026, up 4.8% in a year; Redfin's county median sale price for September 2026 was $1,496,651, down 1.5% from a year earlier; and RealtyTrac's median sold price for October 2026 is $1.5 million, with a county median home price near $1,560,000. The county-wide figure folds in Novato and Marin City condos with Ross and Belvedere estates; a Marin Independent Journal report carried in spring 2026 put the median single-family house alone near $1.84 million. Probate fees under Probate Code §10810 are calculated on gross value, not equity; the mortgage doesn't reduce the fee base:

Against about $27 to record the deed that avoids it. Add court filing fees ($435 to file the first petition for probate under Government Code §70650(a), the figure the court's own copy of the Statewide Civil Fee Schedule prints, though that copy is labeled April 2024, and the statewide schedule effective January 1, 2026 keeps it), the probate referee's appraisal, and a year or more of hearings: probate in Marin County is filed with the Probate Division in Room 113 of the Hall of Justice at the Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, the same building as the Recorder, by mail to P.O. Box 4988, San Rafael, CA 94913, or electronically under the court's Administrative Order 26-01 on e-filing in non-criminal cases. The clerk's window is open Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., (415) 444-7040. The court's 2026 probate rules say one department is designated by the Presiding Judge to hear probate; the 2026 probate calendars this guide read were heard in Department C before Judge James T. Chou on Thursdays, with 9:00, 10:00 and 1:30 calendars. The court posts probate tentative rulings after 2:00 p.m. one court day before the calendar, and anyone who wants to argue must notify every other party and leave word with the clerk at (415) 444-7046, option 5, by 4:00 p.m. that day, or the tentative ruling becomes the order. Even a simple, uncontested estate runs about a year because of the four-month creditor period and those rulings; an average one runs longer. Doing it yourself means repeated trips to the Civic Center, every filing a public record.

Run your own address: Mantle's free probate calculator.

Marin County FAQ

The fee schedule lists a $75 SB2 fee. Do I owe it?
Usually not for your own home. Marin's SB2 fee page names the exemption for a document that transfers a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier, which is what a primary-residence trust transfer is. The exemption has to be stated on the face of the document or on the county's SB2 Exemption Cover Page, which the county says is an additional fee, and a deed that states none pays the $75. Write it in, and a two-page grant deed costs about $27, or $17 if the monument fee is excused.

Does my deed pay the real estate fraud fee?
Not if it is a grant deed. Marin charges the District Attorney fraud fee at $10 per title on 28 titles, deeds of trust, notices of default, reconveyances, affidavits, easements, liens and the like, and a quitclaim deed is on that list. A grant deed is not, so a trust transfer deed written the ordinary way pays the $14 first page; one written as a quitclaim pays $24. Ten dollars either way, but it is worth knowing which form you are holding.

My house is in San Rafael. Does the city transfer tax apply, and what about Measure W?
San Rafael's own tax is $2.00 per $1,000 of full value on the county's fee page, the only city tax in Marin. The county's share of a transfer to your own revocable trust is exempt under R&T §11930; this guide could not read the city's ordinance to confirm its rule. Measure W, on the November 3, 2026 ballot, would raise it to 1%, in the ballot's words "only paid upon sale"; the count was under way when this was written. Ask the Recorder first.

I live in Novato or West Marin. Do I have to drive to San Rafael?
No. The Civic Center counter is the county's only one, but the Recorder takes documents by mail: the deed, the PCOR, a check payable to Marin County Recorder and a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box C, San Rafael, CA 94913, or by express courier to Room 232. From Point Reyes Station, Tomales or Stinson Beach that is the usual path. If you do drive in, be at Room 232 before 3:00 p.m.; a deed reviewed later records the next business day.

Can I record the deed myself?
Yes. The recipe above is complete, and the counter accepts properly formatted documents from any owner. The county says its staff is forbidden by law to give legal advice or say which forms you need, and the Recorder does not supply forms, so the deed has to arrive right the first time; a missing exemption statement, a missing APN, tax-statement address or PCOR, a page that isn't 8½ x 11, and a notary seal that won't reproduce are the common reasons a document comes back.

Does my mortgage prevent this?
No. The Garn-St. Germain Act prevents a lender from enforcing a due-on-sale clause when you transfer your home into your own revocable living trust. The loan continues on the same terms.

Sources: Marin County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk Recorder fee schedule (effective January 1, 2022), recording fees, SB2 fee, SB2 Exemption Cover Page, blank cover page, Illegible Notary Seal Declaration, where do I record a document, recording a document, office hours and location, contact us, about the Recorder's office, forms and BOE-502-A pages on arcc.marincounty.gov and marincounty.org, the Documentary Transfer Tax Transmittal, the Recorder's front page, and the county's news releases on recorder fees (November 2017) and electronic recording (July 2016) (read November 2026); CSC's notice of Marin County e-recording; Superior Court of California, County of Marin, Marin County Superior Court location, contact us and tentative rulings pages, the probate tentative rulings posted for June 25 and August 13, 2026, the court's Statewide Civil Fee Schedule copy (April 2024) and the Probate Rules effective January 1, 2026 (read November 2026); Judicial Council of California statewide civil fee schedule effective January 1, 2026; Zillow typical home value for Marin County (September 2026), Redfin Marin County median sale price (September 2026), RealtyTrac Marin County market trends (October 2026) and a Marin Independent Journal report as carried by Marin County Visitor (April 2026); WFG and Fidelity National Financial (January 2026) title-industry tables of California county and city transfer tax rates; a San Rafael broker's September 2026 note on Measure W and Local News Matters' July 2026 report on the measure; California Probate Code §10810; Revenue & Taxation Code §§11911, 11930, 11932, 62(d), 480.3; Government Code §§27321.5, 27361, 27361.6, 27361.7, 27388, 27388.1, 27388.2, 27585, 70650. Mantle is not a law firm and this page is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed November 2026.