Why People File a Quitclaim Deed in Mono County
Just Got Married
It's common for one spouse to hold the title alone at first, then use a quitclaim deed later once the marriage is settled and it's time to formalize joint ownership.
Going Through a Divorce
Divorce attorneys often recommend a quitclaim deed as the final housekeeping step once the settlement terms are set.
Inherited Property
When probate wraps up and ownership is settled, a quitclaim deed is usually the document that finally updates the recorded title.
Gifting to Family
Some people use a quitclaim deed to remove themselves from a title, handing full ownership to a family member as a gift.
About the Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar
Mono County was carved out by the state legislature in 1861 as one of the first mining counties organized along the eastern Sierra escarpment, and it takes its name from Mono Lake, the ancient saline lake that has drawn geologists and birders alike for its tufa towers. The original county seat was the boomtown of Aurora, until an 1863 boundary survey revealed Aurora actually sat inside Nevada Territory, forcing the seat to move to the small mining town of Bridgeport, where it remains. The county's defining chapter came a bit north at Bodie, a gold and silver camp that swelled to several thousand residents in its 1879-1881 heyday before fading into the well-preserved ghost town now run as a State Historic Park. Today the county's population and economy center more on Mammoth Lakes and its ski resort than on the historic Bridgeport seat, a split that still shapes how residents interact with county offices.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Mono County, this is the Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated city: Mammoth Lakes.
Unincorporated communities: Bridgeport (county seat), Lee Vining, June Lake, Crowley Lake, Walker, Coleville, Chalfant, Benton, Topaz.
Mammoth Lakes is Mono County's only incorporated city and by far its largest town, but all deed recording is handled countywide out of the Bridgeport office regardless of where the property sits.
Office Details
Address: 74 N. School Street, Annex I, PO Box 237, Bridgeport, CA 93517
Phone: (760) 932-5530
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm for general office business; recording of documents is accepted 9:00 am - 3:00 pm only. All Clerk-Recorder business is conducted at the single Bridgeport office -- there is no separate walk-in recording counter in Mammoth Lakes, so remote filers should plan on mail or e-recording rather than an in-person Mammoth visit.
Recording Fee: A flat per-page recording fee (with a higher first-page fee than each additional page), plus a county documentary transfer tax based on a percentage of the property's value, plus a state Building Homes and Jobs Act (SB2) fee on most real estate documents unless the transfer qualifies for an exemption (e.g., owner-occupied residential transfers already subject to the documentary transfer tax). Non-conforming pages (wrong size or format) can trigger an added per-page penalty.
E-recording: E-recording is available through several approved third-party vendors (including CSC, EPN, Indecomm, Nationwide Title Clearing, Simplifile, and ValueCheck), though the county notes these services are generally geared toward high-volume filers such as title and escrow companies rather than one-time individual filers.
Good to know before you go: Mono County's Clerk-Recorder page states in plain terms that all business is conducted out of the single Bridgeport office -- there is no branch recording counter in Mammoth Lakes despite it being the county's larger town -- and the office actively recommends calling or emailing ahead for an appointment to avoid a wasted trip, since recording itself is only accepted 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. even though the office is open until 5. As of an April 2026 notice on the county's own site, notary services at the office were also temporarily on hold, which is worth confirming by phone before a same-day visit for anything notarization-related.
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 Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar 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 Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar 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 Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar 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 Mono County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar?
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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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