Transfer Your Contra Costa Home — Without Triggering Property Tax Reassessment.

Flat $275 for standard preparation (or $400 for entity LLC/Corp filings). Contra Costa County recording fees are $6 first page plus $3 each additional page, with a $2 real-estate fraud fee on Deeds of Trust. The county documentary transfer tax is $1.10 per $1,000. Two cities add their own tax: Richmond (tiered, up to $30/$1,000) and El Cerrito (flat $12/$1,000). The other 17 cities have no extra city tax. Spousal, parent-child, and funding moves are typically exempt with the correct recital. The SB2 fee is $75 per document (capped at $225) but residential owner-occupier transfers are exempt.

Richmond has a four-tier graduated city tax on top of the county's $1.10 per $1,000: $7/$1,000 under $1M, $12.50/$1,000 from $1M to $3M, $25/$1,000 from $3M to $10M, and $30/$1,000 above $10M. On a $1.5M Richmond home that's $18,750 just in city tax. Spousal moves (R&T §11930), parent-child filings, and trust funding are typically exempt — but only with the correct exemption recital on the deed. We include the recital with every Richmond filing we prepare.

El Cerrito charges a flat $12 per $1,000 of the full property value on every transfer, rounded to the nearest $1,000 (El Cerrito Ordinance 18-03). For a $1M El Cerrito home that's $12,000 in city tax. Spousal, parent-child, and funding moves qualify for full exemption under R&T §11930 with the correct recital. El Cerrito and Richmond are the only two cities in the county with a city transfer tax.

We prepare your deed within 1–3 business days of intake. After you sign with a California notary and return the original to us, we electronically submit it to the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in Martinez the same day — most deeds return recorded within an hour to next business day. Stamped copy emailed.

Yes. California R&T Code §63 excludes spousal transfers from property tax reassessment, and R&T §11930 excludes them from city and county tax. We prepare an interspousal grant deed with the correct exemption recital so you pay $0 in tax, even in Richmond or El Cerrito. We also claim the SB2 owner-occupier exemption to avoid the $75 SB2 fee.

Yes. We handle filings remotely from our San Jose office. You never visit the Clerk-Recorder in Martinez. We prepare the deed and BOE forms, you sign with any California notary (we can refer one in Walnut Creek, Concord, Richmond, or anywhere in the county), and we electronically submit to the Recorder the same day. Stamped recorded copy emailed.

California Proposition 19 (R&T §63.2, effective February 16, 2021) allows a parent-to-child transfer of a primary residence to preserve the Prop 13 base year — capped at the factored base year value plus $1,044,586 (2025-27 cap). For Lamorinda and Walnut Creek homes that often exceed this cap, the excess is reassessed at fair market value. The child must use the home as a primary residence within 1 year. We prepare the deed and the BOE-19-P claim form together (or BOE-58-AH if your transfer date was before February 15, 2021, under the old Proposition 58 or Proposition 193 rules). If your situation requires legal advice on which exclusion applies, we refer you to an attorney.

Yes. Moving a rental property into a family LLC, partnership, or corporation is common across San Ramon, Danville, Walnut Creek, and the rest of Contra Costa. Under R&T §64, the entity exclusion rules differ from individual transfers — original co-owners can transfer interests among themselves without reassessment as long as no one person gains more than 50% ownership (the rule confirmed in Ocean Avenue LLC v. County of Los Angeles). Our flat fee for entity filings is $400 and includes paperwork with authority recital, entity declaration, PCOR, and a 7-14 day §64 change-in-ownership review to flag any "step doctrine" risk before recording. We also handle the city tax exemption analysis if the property is in Richmond or El Cerrito.

California's Revocable Transfer on Death (TOD) deed lets you name a beneficiary who inherits your home at death without probate — and the parent-child exclusion still applies, preserving the Prop 13 base year. Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (QPRTs) are an irrevocable estate-planning vehicle attorneys use for high-value Lamorinda homes. We prepare TOD deeds at our flat $275; we do not draft QPRTs — for that and other complex Prop 13 planning, including strategies discussed under R&T §63.1 (the pre-2021 Prop 58 parent-child rules) and the BOE-261-G disabled veterans exemption, we refer you to a California estate planning attorney. PCOR (Preliminary Change of Ownership Report) is mandatory at recording per R&T §480 and we include it with every deed.

Contra Costa County rejects filings for indexing errors, missing return address, wrong margins, illegible notary seal, or missing PCOR. Our preparation pre-checks against these requirements so rejections are rare. If a rejection happens, we correct and resubmit at no additional preparation fee — you only pay the re-recording charge.

No. TrustPoint is a Registered & Bonded California Legal Document Assistant (LDA #268). We prepare deeds and electronically record them at your direction — we do not provide legal advice. If your situation requires legal advice on which filing or exclusion applies (especially for complex Richmond tax questions or out-of-state ownership), we refer you to an attorney. Verify our LDA registration on the County Clerk-Recorder ↗.