Why People File a Quitclaim Deed in Orange County
Just Got Married
You don't need a real estate closing to add your spouse to a deed you already hold — a quitclaim deed handles it directly.
Going Through a Divorce
A divorce decree tells the county who's supposed to own the property; a quitclaim deed is what actually puts that in writing on the title.
Inherited Property
If the estate attorney mentioned "clearing title," a quitclaim deed moving the property into the heir's name is often part of that.
Gifting to Family
If your family agreed that a property should now belong to one particular relative, a quitclaim deed is how that agreement becomes official.
About the Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department
Orange County split off from Los Angeles County in 1889, and its name wasn't chosen because citrus already dominated the landscape - backers of the breakaway pushed the name specifically to market the new county to prospective land buyers back East, betting the word 'orange' would sound inviting. The gamble paid off in an unexpected way: by around 1900 the county's growers had planted the region so thick with Valencia orange trees that citrus genuinely became the backbone of the local economy for the next half-century. Today Orange County is one of California's most populous and economically significant counties, home to Disneyland, a dense corridor of coastal and inland cities, and a recorder's office that processes an enormous volume of real estate paperwork each year - by the county's own account, it has logged well over ten million electronically submitted documents.
Cities and Communities Served
Recording jurisdiction runs countywide, not by city limits — if the property sits anywhere within Orange County, this is the Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department that will accept the deed. That includes:
Incorporated cities: Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Dana Point, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, Yorba Linda.
Unincorporated communities: North Tustin, Ladera Ranch, Coto de Caza, Rossmoor, Silverado Canyon.
North Tustin is the largest unincorporated community in Orange County; several others, like Ladera Ranch, are governed through advisory councils rather than city incorporation.
Office Details
Address: 601 N. Ross Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone: (714) 834-2887
Hours: Main Santa Ana recording office: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Branch offices (Anaheim and Laguna Hills) also accept recordings, but their real property recording windows run only 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and the Anaheim branch closes for lunch from noon to 1:00 p.m. Closed weekends and county holidays.
Recording Fee: A flat per-page recording fee applies, plus additional fees for extra indexed titles or non-conforming pages, plus a county documentary transfer tax calculated as a percentage of the property's value. A completed Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR) must accompany most deeds; a penalty fee applies if it is missing or incomplete.
E-recording: Electronic recording is available through Simplifile.
Good to know before you go: Recording hours are not uniform across locations: the Santa Ana headquarters keeps documents-recording open until 4:30 p.m., but the Anaheim and Laguna Hills branch offices cut off real property recording at 4:00 p.m. and the Anaheim branch closes entirely for lunch from noon to 1:00 p.m. - worth checking before a same-day walk-in submission at a branch office.
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 Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department 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 Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department 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 Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department 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 Orange County Clerk-Recorder Department?
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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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