Putting Your House in a Living Trust in San Mateo County
Your living trust starts owning your Peninsula home the moment the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder at 555 County Center in Redwood City stamps a trust transfer deed. San Mateo has the second-highest typical home value of any county in California, which means it also has one of the largest probate bills in the country waiting for anyone who skips that step — and the recording itself costs about $23. Here is the complete local recipe. Without a recorded trust, probate on a typical home here runs up to ~$56,000.
Quick facts: recording in San Mateo County
| Recorder | San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections (ACRE) |
| Office | 555 County Center, 1st Floor, Redwood City, CA 94063-1665 — Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. |
| Ways to submit | In person in Redwood City, by mail to the same address, or electronically — the county runs an e-recording program through authorized submitters |
| Official fee schedule | ACRE recording fees |
What it costs to record a trust transfer deed here
- Documentary transfer tax — $0 for trust transfers. The county rate is $0.55 per $500 of value, and several Peninsula cities add their own conveyance tax on top. All of it targets sales; a transfer into your own revocable living trust is exempt under Revenue & Taxation Code §11930, cited on the face of the deed.
- Base recording fee — $14 for the first page, $3 for each additional page.
- Real Estate Fraud Prosecution fee — $6 per title. Note this one: San Mateo raised it from $3 on January 21, 2025, so older guides and third-party fee tables still quote the wrong number.
- SB2 "Building Homes & Jobs" fee — usually $0. The $75 per-parcel, per-title fee is waived for transfers to an owner-occupier of a residential dwelling. Declare the exemption on the document.
- Survey Monument Preservation fee — $10, and San Mateo's trigger is unusually wide. Most counties charge it only for metes-and-bounds descriptions. San Mateo charges it on any grant deed whose property description refers to a portion of a lot from a recorded tract map, a lot or parcel created by a Survey or Parcel Map, a U.S. Government Survey, metes and bounds — or a street address. Effective January 6, 2025. Copy the full legal description from your existing deed rather than shortcutting to the address, and you may avoid it; either way, budget it.
- No-PCOR penalty — avoidable $20. File the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (BOE-502-A) with the deed and there's no charge.
- Formatting surcharges — $1 per page for undersized print and $3 per page if any page isn't 8.5"×11". San Mateo wants 10-point type on the first page, a 2.5"×5" clear space top-right, and the tax statement address at the bottom of page one.
A clean two-page trust transfer deed records for around $23, or $33 if the monument fee applies.
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 §11930 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). This is how the Assessor learns the transfer is not a reassessment event.
- Sign before a notary. California requires an acknowledgment; the seal must be photographically reproducible.
- Submit deed + PCOR + fees — at the Redwood City counter, by mail, or through an authorized e-recording submitter.
- 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 correct exemptions and the full legal description, coordinate the online notarization, record with San Mateo 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 San Mateo County Recorder at 555 County Center in Redwood City, 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 exactly how the Assessor knows to leave it alone. On the Peninsula, where a long-held home can be assessed at a fraction of what it would sell for, protecting that base-year value is the whole game — and a trust transfer does not disturb it. Prop 19's parent-child limits govern transfers to your children; a revocable trust holds the status quo in place rather than triggering anything.
What probate costs on a typical San Mateo County home
A typical San Mateo County home runs roughly $1,500,000. California's statutory probate fee schedule (Probate Code §10810) runs on the gross value, not your equity — the mortgage does not reduce it:
| On roughly $1,500,000 gross | |
|---|---|
| 4% of the first $100,000 | $4,000 |
| 3% of the next $100,000 | $3,000 |
| 2% of the next $800,000 | $16,000 |
| 1% of the remaining $500,000 | $5,000 |
| Statutory fee | $28,000 |
| × 2 (executor and attorney may each take it) | up to ~$56,000 |
That is the largest number on any of these county pages, and it is before filing fees, the probate referee's appraisal, and publication. Note where San Mateo probate actually happens — it is split across two cities. The Probate Clerk's Office remains at the Hall of Justice, 400 County Center in Redwood City, but since July 2024 the probate courtroom sits at the Central Branch Courthouse, 800 N. Humboldt Street in San Mateo. Expect 12–18 months, with the estate on the public record throughout.
See the math on your own address: Mantle's free probate calculator.
San Mateo County FAQ
Can I record the deed myself?
Yes. Everything above is the complete recipe, and the Redwood City counter will accept a properly formatted deed and PCOR from any owner. County staff cannot prepare documents or give legal advice, so the deed must arrive finished — the common rejections here are margin and type-size violations on page one.
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.
Why does a fee table say the fraud fee is $3?
Because it predates January 21, 2025, when San Mateo raised it to $6. Third-party recorder directories are slow to update; the county's own schedule is the one to trust, and it's linked above.
Will I owe the $10 survey monument fee?
Possibly — San Mateo's trigger is broader than most counties and includes a description given by street address. If your current deed carries a complete lot-and-tract description, copy it verbatim onto the new deed rather than substituting the address.
What if I also own property in San Francisco or Santa Clara?
Each property records in the county where it sits, so each needs its own deed. See our San Francisco guide or Santa Clara County guide for those counters.
You now know exactly how to record this yourself.
Everything above is the complete recipe — the grant deed, the exemptions, the full legal description, the PCOR, the notary, and the counter at 555 County Center. Plenty of Peninsula families do it exactly that way, for about $23.
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 San Mateo County, and walk your accounts into the trust: stamped copy returned, confirmed finished. Against the ~$56,000 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: San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections recording fees and electronic recording pages; Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo probate division; California Probate Code §10810; Revenue & Taxation Code §§11930, 62(d), 480.3; Government Code §§27361, 27388, 27388.1, 27585. 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.