Why People File a Quitclaim Deed in Napa County
Just Got Married
If your attorney or lender suggested adding your spouse to the title, a quitclaim deed is almost always the document they meant.
Going Through a Divorce
If both names are still on the title after a divorce and shouldn't be, a quitclaim deed is the fix.
Inherited Property
Families juggling an inherited property between several heirs often use a quitclaim deed to simplify who's actually on the title.
Gifting to Family
Parents who'd rather see their kids benefit from a property now, instead of waiting on an inheritance, often use a quitclaim deed to make that transfer.
About the Napa County Recorder-County Clerk
Napa County's economy is inseparable from its wine industry, but that identity is more recent than many visitors assume: after Prohibition and decades of agricultural drift into orchards, hayfields, and sheep pasture, only a handful of wineries such as Beringer, Inglenook, Beaulieu, and Charles Krug carried viticulture through the lean years. It wasn't until January 1981 that the federal government designated Napa Valley the nation's second American Viticultural Area, narrowly edged out for the very first AVA by Augusta, Missouri, which had been approved just eight months earlier in 1980. Since then, the county has layered on more than a dozen nested sub-appellations -- Howell Mountain was the first, established in 1983, followed later by Stags Leap District and others -- each tied to a distinct combination of soil and microclimate within the valley. The result is a county whose land-use and land-value patterns, and by extension its property records, are shaped as much by AVA boundaries as by city limits.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Napa County, this is the Napa County Recorder-County Clerk that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Napa, American Canyon, St. Helena, Calistoga, Yountville.
Unincorporated communities: Angwin, Oakville, Rutherford, Deer Park, Pope Valley.
All five incorporated cities and towns in Napa County, along with the unincorporated Valley communities, record through the single Napa office.
Office Details
Address: 1127 First Street, Suite A, Napa, CA 94559 (mailing: P.O. Box 298, Napa, CA 94559-0298)
Phone: (707) 253-4247 (Clerk); (707) 253-4105 (Recorder)
Hours: Recording of documents is accepted Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 3:00 pm (the office stays open through the lunch hour for recording); other transactions such as marriage licenses and research have separate, slightly longer windows, up to 5:00 pm for some services.
Recording Fee: A per-page recording fee, 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 is exempt. No incorporated city within Napa County currently levies its own additional city-level real property transfer tax on top of the standard county tax.
E-recording: E-recording is available for Napa County through the Simplifile network, used by title companies, banks, and attorneys for routine electronic submission of recordable documents.
Good to know before you go: St. Helena voters rejected a pair of November 2024 ballot measures (A1 and A2) that would have made St. Helena a charter city specifically in order to levy a new supplemental real property transfer tax on high-value sales; both measures failed, so as of 2026 the standard county documentary transfer tax is still the only transfer tax that applies anywhere in Napa County, including in the city of Napa, St. Helena, Calistoga, and Yountville.
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 Napa County Recorder-County 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 Napa County Recorder-County 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 Napa County Recorder-County 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 Napa County Recorder-County 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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