Why People File a Quitclaim Deed in El Dorado County
Just Got Married
Plenty of newlyweds end up here just to add a name to an existing deed — no refinance, no closing, just the paperwork that makes joint ownership official.
Going Through a Divorce
Divorcing couples commonly use a quitclaim deed as the last step in separating property once everything else has been agreed to.
Inherited Property
Once an estate is settled and ownership is clear, a quitclaim deed is how that new ownership gets reflected on the county's records.
Gifting to Family
Passing a property to your kids now, rather than through a will later, usually means filing a quitclaim deed.
About the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk
El Dorado County was one of California's original 27 counties, formed by an act of the legislature on February 18, 1850, and it sits at the literal birthplace of the California Gold Rush: Coloma, where James Marshall's 1848 discovery of gold flakes in the tailrace of Sutter's Mill set off the migration that made California a state. The county's name -- Spanish for "the gilded one" -- comes from the old legend of a lost city of gold that Spanish explorers searched for in South America centuries earlier, repurposed here as shorthand for California's own gold country. Placerville, the county seat, was known in Gold Rush days by the considerably less inviting nickname "Hangtown," a reference to vigilante justice carried out on the town's oak trees during the lawless early mining years. Today the county stretches from the historic Highway 50 gold-country foothills up into the high Sierra around South Lake Tahoe, making it one of the few California counties that spans both the Gold Country and the Tahoe Basin.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within El Dorado County, this is the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Placerville, South Lake Tahoe.
Unincorporated communities: Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, Diamond Springs, Pollock Pines, Camino, Georgetown, Rescue, Shingle Springs.
El Dorado County has only two incorporated cities despite its size; recording itself is handled solely out of the Placerville office, even for property located in or near South Lake Tahoe.
Office Details
Address: 360 Fair Lane, Placerville, CA 95667 (the only location that performs recording; the South Lake Tahoe office at 3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd, #108, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 handles other Clerk services by appointment only and does not record documents)
Phone: (530) 621-5490
Hours: Placerville: Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-5:00 PM, with recording cutting off earlier, at 4:00 PM. South Lake Tahoe: by appointment only, and this office does not perform recording -- documents must be recorded in Placerville.
Recording Fee: A flat per-page recording fee applies, plus a county documentary transfer tax based on a percentage of the property's value. A separate state-mandated fee applies to many real estate documents to fund affordable housing programs, with common exemptions including most owner-occupied residential transfers. A Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR) should accompany a deed, or a penalty fee applies.
E-recording: Available -- El Dorado County is part of the Simplifile e-recording network, allowing title companies, lenders, and attorneys to submit documents electronically without an in-person or mailed visit.
Good to know before you go: Only the Placerville office actually records documents -- the South Lake Tahoe office is appointment-only and handles other County Clerk business, but a deed brought there cannot be recorded on the spot and must go to Placerville instead, a genuinely easy mistake for Tahoe-area residents to make given the distance between the two offices.
How to File a Document
- Sign in Front of a Notary: California requires the grantor's signature to be acknowledged before a notary public before the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk will accept a deed for recording. California notaries also have to take the signer's right thumbprint in their journal specifically for deeds and other real-property documents -- a state-specific requirement that catches people off guard if their notary isn't prepared for it, so it's worth confirming ahead of time that whoever notarizes your deed has a journal and inkpad on hand.
- Attach a Full Legal Description, Not Just an Address: A street address alone won't satisfy California's requirements -- the deed needs the property's actual legal description (a metes-and-bounds description, a government survey reference, or a platted lot and block, depending on how the parcel was originally surveyed and subdivided). You can usually copy this directly from the deed that transferred the property to you.
- Complete a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report: California requires a separate Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR) to accompany most deeds when they're filed. It's a distinct form the county assessor's office uses to determine whether the transfer triggers a reassessment -- a penalty applies if it's missing or left incomplete, so it's worth getting right before you file. The El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk or county assessor can supply the current version.
- Know Where California Stands on Remote Online Notarization: Unlike some states, California-commissioned notaries can't yet offer remote online notarization -- that's not scheduled to change until January 1, 2030. In the meantime, an out-of-state online notary can still validly notarize a California deed, since California recognizes notarial acts performed under another state's laws. See our online notarization page for how that works.
- Record with the County Clerk-Recorder: Bring, mail, or (where the county supports it) e-file the signed, notarized deed and its Preliminary Change of Ownership Report with the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk for the county where the property sits. California's recording fee is a flat, statute-set amount per document, and on top of that, a county documentary transfer tax applies based on a percentage of the property's value -- some cities also levy their own additional city transfer tax on top of the county's.
Still Have Questions About Filing With the El Dorado County Recorder-Clerk?
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Other Counties in California
Filing somewhere else in the state? Here are a few other county pages:
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