Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Name change on real estate property

You can just have a quitclaim deed prepared deeding it to yourself in your married name. You will want to take steps that it continues to be your seperate property.

Re: Name change on real estate property

Most people don't bother doing this.

If you decide to do so, make sure that the new deed indicates that the transaction is exempt from reappraisal and monument fees. Most pre-printed California quitclaim deed forms will have a space at the top for this.

Also, if you acquired the property as Mary Smith and are now Mary Jones, the conveyance would be "from Mary Jones, who acquired the property as Mary Smith, to Mary Jones, a married woman, as her sole and separate property" or words to that effect. Civil Code section 1096 requires that a person who conveys property after changing his or her name must make reference in the deed to the name under which the property was acquired.

You should probably look up and read the code section, and maybe work with a title company on drawing up and recording the deed, to minimize the possibility of a mistake in describing the property or in the words of conveyance. As Mr. Selik points out, unless you intend otherwise, be darn sure the property remains your separate property, that its legal description is accurate in the new deed, and that you don't inadvertently trigger an unnecessary reappraisal or attempt to reappraise.