Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

The county clerical people are doing their duty and following their job descriptions. I recommend that you and mom go back to the lawyer or law firm that drew up the trust in the first place and explain what it is you want to do and why. A privately-written (by the lawyer) resignation and designation of successor should be easily accomplished at low cost. The lawyer can also give you some tips in advance on how to draw up a deed if and when the house is sold. Keep in mind that most successor trustees become such upon the death of the trustor/original trustee, but that it is usually okay for the original trustee to resign and be replaced by the successor trustee at the top of the list in the trust instrument itself. Also, I should point out that not all trust documents are constructed identically, so it's necessary to involve an attorney who either created the trust in the first place, or who can review its key provisions before advising on trustee succession matters.

Real property is not held in the name of a trust. It is held in the name of the trustee of the trust if it was properly deeded into the trust. Something along the lines of "Jane Doe, trustee of the Doe Family Trust of 1998" would be a common form of phrasing. Without seeing the title documentation when your mom first acquired the house, and again when it was placed in the trust, however, there is no way to give you anything approaching proper advice on how to place it in your name as successor trustee without a risk of messing up the chain of title.