Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No, it only needs to be signed and delivered. However, it must be notarized to be recorded, and it must be recorded unless you want it to be of no force and effect as to anyone who does not know about it. So, for example, the person who gives the quitclaim that is not recorded could give another quitclaim to another person the next day, and if the second person has no knowledge of the first quitclaim deed, and records his second quitclaim deed, the second person will own the property.

A deed is effective when properly filled out, and delivered to and accepted by the grantee or the grantee's agent. Civil Code section 1217 says "An unrecorded instrument is valid as between the parties thereto and those who have notice thereof." The notice can be actual or constructive. For example, if I am living at Whiteacre and you see me driving in and out of the garage, that may be constructive notice to you that I may be the owner, and you have what is called "inquiry notice" and before "buying" Whiteacre from Shylock, you need to ask me who really owns the place, and I can show you my unrecorded deed from him. On the other hand, an unrecorded deed is ineffective against a second buyer who, having paid fair value and having no knowledge of my deed, records first.

The upshot is that unrecorded deeds create legal problems because they do not give legally sufficient notice to the entire world, and thus open the door for conflicting claims and title uncertainties down the road.