Living Trust Richmond: Keep Your Richmond Home Out of Probate in Martinez
Reviewed by Rozsa Gyene, California attorney. Last reviewed October 2026.
Richmond has its own courthouse on 37th Street, but Contra Costa County hears every probate case at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez. On Zillow's August 2026 typical Richmond value of $601,802, statutory attorney and executor fees would come to $30,072.08. A funded living trust keeps the house out of that court for a $400 trust plus a $100 deed.
A Richmond house avoids probate when it is deeded into your revocable living trust and the deed is recorded with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in Martinez. Left in your name, a home at Zillow's August 2026 typical Richmond value of $601,802 goes to the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, where Probate Code §10810 and §10800 fees total $30,072.08, or to a §13151 court petition if it qualifies. Our trust is $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple.
Key Takeaways
The George D. Carroll Courthouse in Richmond does not hear probate. Contra Costa County files and hears all probate, guardianship and conservatorship cases at 725 Court Street, Martinez.
Deeds are recorded at 555 Escobar Street, Martinez. The county posts $14.00 for the first page of an ordinary document and $3.00 for each additional page.
Zillow put the typical Richmond home value at $601,802 for August 2026. Statutory probate fees on that value: $15,036.04 to the attorney and the same to the executor.
Richmond is a charter city with its own transfer tax, and its ordinance counts a loan that stays on the house as consideration. If your home has a mortgage, ask the Clerk-Recorder about the city tax before you record the trust deed.
Rental units owe Richmond's annual Rental Housing Fee, billed to the owner on title; after the deed that owner is you as trustee.
Attorney-prepared trust: $400 single, $500 married couple. Deed preparation is a separate $100 per property.
Contra Costa County Probate: Martinez, Not 37th Street
Courthouse
Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, Wakefield Taylor Courthouse
Address
725 Court Street, Martinez, CA 94553
Phone
Courthouse (925) 608-1000; wills, trusts and estates information (925) 608-2613
Hours
Building open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday; court phones answered 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Richmond courthouse
George D. Carroll Courthouse, 100 37th Street, Richmond, CA 94805: no probate
West County residents are used to going to the George D. Carroll Courthouse on 37th Street for court business. The court's own listing for that building names small claims, criminal, traffic, landlord and tenant, civil and domestic violence restraining orders. Probate is not on the list. The court's filing guide is direct: all probate, guardianship and conservatorship documents are filed and heard in the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez. So if a Richmond house is left in the owner's name, the executor or administrator opens the case in the county seat, and every hearing in it is set there.
Before a judge acts on a probate petition in Contra Costa County, a probate examiner reads it for legal requirements and posts calendar notes listing what is missing. The court says those notes are ordinarily available 6 to 8 days before the hearing on its public portal. Any item marked NEEDED has to be answered with a supplemental filing, and the court asks that pleadings be filed at least five days before the hearing. Anyone appointed as a conservator, other than a professional fiduciary, must also complete the court's conservatorship workshop, which is booked through the county's Public Law Library.
A trust replaces all of that for the assets it holds. Your successor trustee takes over under the trust document, pays the bills, and signs the deed or the escrow papers when the house is sold or distributed. There is no petition, no examiner's notes and no trip to Court Street. The same trust also matters during your lifetime: if you lose capacity, the successor trustee manages the Richmond house without a conservatorship of the estate. Our guide to avoiding probate in California covers the other tools.
Recording a Richmond Deed, and Richmond's Own Transfer Tax
Recorder
Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder, Recorder Division
Address
555 Escobar Street, Martinez, CA 94553
Phone
Clerk-Recorder (925) 335-7900; Assessor's Office, for PCOR questions, (925) 313-7400
Posted deed fee
$14.00 base fee for the first page and $3.00 for each additional page (fee schedule effective January 1, 2025). The $17.00 first page applies only to the document types that carry the real estate fraud fee. Confirm the current fee with the recorder before mailing.
SB 2 fee
$75 per title, $225 at most per transaction (Government Code §27388.1), unless an exemption is declared on the first page or a cover sheet. Our deed of the home you live in claims the owner-occupier exemption in §27388.1(a)(2).
PCOR
The recorder will not record a change of ownership without a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report or a $20.00 fee (Revenue and Taxation Code §480.3).
The trust document does not move your house; a recorded deed does. For a Richmond home the deed runs from you, as owner, to you as trustee of your trust. The deed is recorded by the Clerk-Recorder's office on Escobar Street in Martinez, together with the PCOR. On that form you check the box for a transfer into a revocable trust. Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d) treats the transfer as no change in ownership, so the Contra Costa County Assessor keeps your Proposition 13 base year value. More on that in our guide to living trust property tax rules.
Contra Costa's fee schedule lists two first page amounts: $14.00 for an ordinary document and $17.00 for a document subject to the real estate fraud fee. Government Code §27388(a)(1) lists the documents that carry that fee, such as quitclaim deeds and deeds of trust, and grant deeds and trust transfer deeds are not on the list, so a trust transfer deed pays the ordinary first page fee. The $75 SB 2 fee is usually not charged on a deed moving your own home into your trust, because our deed claims the owner-occupier exemption on its face, and Contra Costa's SB 2 page lists a transfer of a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier as an exemption declared that way. A deed of a rental, a second home or vacant land pays it, capped at $225 per transaction. No county guarantees how its staff will read a given deed. Recording fees change on January 1, 2027: AB 2224 (Stats. 2026, ch. 292) sets the Government Code §27361 base at $15.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each additional page, and county add-ons stay on top of that base.
Two transfer tax lines on a Richmond deed
A deed of Richmond property can owe two separate transfer taxes. The county's documentary transfer tax is $0.55 per $500 of value on realty sold (Revenue and Taxation Code §11911); for that line our deed shows $0.00 and states the Revenue and Taxation Code §11930 exemption. The second line is the City of Richmond's own tax, and the county's recording page lists it separately: $7.00 per $1,000 below $1,000,000, $12.50 from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000, $25.00 above $3,000,000 up to $10,000,000, and $30.00 above $10,000,000. The current tiers date from Ordinance No. 31-18 N.S. of November 6, 2018.
We opened the ordinance itself, Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 13.40, the Real Property Transfer Tax Ordinance of the City of Richmond. Section 13.40.010 says it is adopted under the City Charter and under Part 6.7 of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, the state documentary transfer tax law. Two other sections point the other way for a trust deed. Section 13.40.017 defines the value of consideration to include any debt secured on the property before the transfer that remains secured after it, and §13.40.090 tells the County Recorder to use that city definition when computing the tax, administering the rest of the chapter under the state law. The chapter's own exemption sections, §§13.40.040 to 13.40.080, cover security instruments, government parties, reorganization plans, SEC orders and continuing partnerships. Revocable trusts are not named. Because Richmond's ordinance counts a loan that stays on the property and does not list revocable trusts as exempt, ask the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder before recording whether city tax is due on a deed of a mortgaged home into your trust. A sale by your successor trustee after your death is an ordinary sale, and both taxes apply to it: at the typical Richmond value of $601,802, the city tax would be $4,214.00 and the county tax $662.20.
The city tax reaches only property located in the City of Richmond (§13.40.020). Contra Costa County lists El Sobrante, Kensington, North Richmond, East Richmond Heights, Bay View, Montalvin Manor, Rollingwood and Tara Hills among the unincorporated communities of its District 1, outside the boundaries of any city. Some share Richmond ZIP codes: the court's own ZIP table lists 94801 for both Richmond and North Richmond, and 94803 for both Richmond and El Sobrante. A house outside the city line is recorded at the same Martinez office, but Richmond's transfer tax and Richmond's rent ordinance do not reach it, so confirm whether the parcel is inside city limits before assuming either one applies. Our trust transfer deed guide explains the deed itself.
After the deed records, consider the Clerk-Recorder's Real Estate Recording Notification Alert. You register your name and Assessor's Parcel Number and receive an email when a transfer tied to them is recorded, which is a simple check on deed fraud for a house your successor trustee may one day manage.
What Probate Would Cost on a Typical Richmond Home
Zillow's Home Value Index put the typical Richmond home value at $601,802 for August 2026, about 1.7% below the August 2025 figure of $612,122. The table uses that number from Zillow's research data files. Probate Code §10810 pays the estate's attorney 4% of the first $100,000 of the gross estate, 3% of the next $100,000 and 2% of the next $800,000, and §10800 gives the executor the same amount. The fee is figured on gross value, so the mortgage is not subtracted.
Court filing fee: $435 for the first petition, the statewide fee; Contra Costa is not one of the surcharge counties.
Probate referee: one-tenth of one percent of the property appraised (Probate Code §8961), about $602 on this home.
Creditor period: creditors have four months after letters issue (Probate Code §9100), so no estate closes sooner.
Richmond's typical home sits under the $750,000 limit of the Probate Code §13151 petition. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, heirs can ask the court to transfer a decedent's primary residence worth up to that amount without a full administration. It is a shortcut, not an exemption: the petition is filed in Martinez with the $435 fee, notice goes to the heirs and devisees, and a judge signs the order. It covers only the primary residence, so a Richmond rental or a house the owner had moved out of goes through regular probate. The small estate affidavit under Probate Code §13100 stops at $208,850, which no typical Richmond house approaches. A recorded trust deed takes the house out of all three procedures. Our California probate fees guide walks through each charge.
Richmond Neighborhoods, Rentals and Co-op Homes
A city of very different price points
The Census Bureau estimated Richmond's population at 114,861 on July 1, 2025, against an April 2020 base of 116,239. The citywide value hides a wide spread. In Zillow's neighborhood series for August 2026, Carriage Hills South was at $1,000,200, Carriage Hills North at $912,364, Point Richmond at $880,564, Greenbriar at $871,296, Richmond Annex at $789,689, May Valley at $770,691 and the Hilltop District at $760,173. Laurel Park was at $670,221, Parkview at $643,624, North and East at $572,022, Marina Bay at $511,031, Coronado at $505,714 and the Iron Triangle at $458,078.
That spread changes the probate math. A Point Richmond house at $880,564 would carry $41,222.56 in combined statutory fees and sits above the §13151 limit, so it would need a full administration. An Iron Triangle house at $458,078 would carry $24,323.12 and could qualify for the primary residence petition. Either way a judge in Martinez is involved. The value that counts is the house's own gross value at death, not a neighborhood index, which is one more reason not to plan around the line.
Atchison Village and other homes without an ordinary deed
Atchison Village, entered from Macdonald Avenue onto Curry Street about a mile north of Point Richmond, was built in 1941 as defense housing for shipyard workers, and the National Park Service includes it in the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park. The Atchison Village Mutual Homes Corporation describes itself as a mutual benefit corporation formed in 1956, cooperatively owned and managed by its members, with 450 units in 162 buildings. Zillow's August 2026 figure for the neighborhood, $205,271, is far below the rest of the city.
If what you hold there is a membership in the corporation rather than a deed to a parcel, a trust transfer deed recorded in Martinez is not the tool that moves it. It moves under the corporation's bylaws and transfer rules rather than by deed, so ask the corporation how a membership is assigned to a trustee and what approval it requires. Bring your membership certificate and occupancy papers when you fill out the questionnaire so the funding instructions name the right steps.
Richmond's rent ordinance and the Rental Housing Fee
Richmond's Fair Rent, Just Cause for Eviction and Homeowner Protection Ordinance, Municipal Code Chapter 11.100, charges landlords an annual Rental Housing Fee, and the Rent Program says every rental property in the city must be enrolled and pay it. That includes units exempt from rent control but still covered by just cause rules, such as a single house on its own parcel, condominiums and new construction. For fiscal 2026 to 2027 the fee is $261 for each fully covered unit and $149 for each partially covered or governmentally subsidized unit. Late payment adds 10%, 25% or 50% depending on how late it is, and an unpaid fee is a complete defense to an eviction case (Richmond Municipal Code §11.100.060(s)(3)).
Two parts of the ordinance matter for a trust. First, the Rent Program bills the owner on title as recorded by the Contra Costa County Assessor, and the ordinance's definition of landlord includes a successor (§11.100.030(f)). Once your trust deed records, the trustee is the landlord of record, and after your death that is your successor trustee, who should know the enrollment and billing exist. Second, the owner move-in ground for ending a tenancy is limited to a landlord who is a natural person with at least a 50% recorded ownership interest in the property (§11.100.050(a)(6)(A)). If you may want to move yourself or a family member into a rented Richmond unit later, ask the Rent Program how it treats a property held in your revocable trust before you rely on that ground.
Most rentals also fall under the Residential Rental Inspection Program in Chapter 6.40 of the Municipal Code; the city exempts government subsidized units and new construction for its first five years. Effective July 1, 2025, the city lists a registration and processing fee of $106.00 (annual for owners of three or more units, every three years for one or two), an initial inspection fee of $211.00 per unit every three years and a $90.00 reinspection fee. The city also requires a current business license for each rental property. None of this changes when the property moves into the trust, but each account should be updated to the trustee's name so notices reach whoever is managing the property.
Second units and rooms in the owner's home
Richmond's ordinance has homeowner protections. A lawful second unit is exempt from the chapter while the owner is the primary resident of the main house, and renting a room where the tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom is exempt while the home is the owner's primary residence (§11.100.040(a)(2) and (3)). Both exemptions depend on the owner living there. Among the ordinance's signs of a primary residence is ownership held in the individual's name and not by "a limited liability corporation or other corporate structure" (§11.100.030(h)(6)); trusts are not mentioned, so once the deed records, ask the Rent Program whether your second unit or room rental keeps its exemption. If you move into care or die and the unit stays rented, your successor trustee should ask the Rent Program whether the unit is now covered, before raising the rent or asking the tenant to leave.
Fire hazard maps in the hills
The state's proposed 2025 local responsibility area fire hazard maps expanded Richmond's very high hazard zones. As reported by Richmondside on May 14, 2025, the proposed very high zones covered about 4,500 acres and 1,800 parcels, against 4,100 acres and 861 parcels on the 2009 map. May Valley and East Richmond Heights now appear in the moderate, high and very high zones, while Point Richmond, rated high in 2009, no longer appears. A zone designation runs with the land, not the owner, so it does not change when the house moves into the trust. Your successor trustee should still know where the house falls on the map before deciding whether to hold it or sell it. After the deed records, tell your homeowner's insurer and have the trust and trustee named on the policy.
Refinery, hospital and federal paychecks
The City of Richmond's annual financial report for the year ended June 30, 2024 lists the Chevron Refinery as the city's largest employer, with 3,157 workers. Next by head count are Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, United Parcel Service, the Social Security Administration, the West Contra Costa Unified School District and Amazon. Pensions, 401(k) and 403(b) plans, the federal Thrift Savings Plan and group life insurance pass by beneficiary designation, not under your trust or your will. Check that each form points where the trust does.
Passing the house to a child: Proposition 19
A trust does not change the property tax rules at your death. Under Proposition 19, a child who inherits the family home keeps the parent's taxable value only if the child makes it a principal residence and claims the homeowners' exemption within a year. If the home's market value is more than the parent's factored base year value plus an indexed allowance, $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027, the excess is added to the taxable value. Richmond's typical value of $601,802 is below that allowance by itself, so for a typical house a child who moves in generally keeps the whole base. A child who rents the house out instead is reassessed. See Prop 19 inheritance rules.
How to Create and Fund a Living Trust in Richmond
Answer the questionnaireFill in the online questions from Richmond at your own pace: family, successor trustees, your Contra Costa County home, any rental units, accounts and retirement plans. Your answers save as you go.
Attorney prepares and reviews the trustRozsa Gyene, a California attorney, drafts the trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, advance health care directive and certification of trust from your answers and reviews the set before delivery.
Sign before a notarySign the trust and power of attorney before a California notary public in Richmond or anywhere else in the state. The pour-over will is signed before two witnesses, as the signing instructions explain.
Record the deed in MartinezDeed your Richmond home to yourself as trustee and record it with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder at 555 Escobar Street, Martinez, with a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report. If the home has a loan, ask the Clerk-Recorder first whether Richmond's city transfer tax is due. The home you live in claims the SB 2 owner-occupier exemption; a rental pays the $75 fee.
Retitle bank and brokerage accountsGive each bank and brokerage the certification of trust and retitle the account to you as trustee, or name the trust as the payable on death beneficiary where the institution allows it.
Review every beneficiary designationPensions, 401(k) and 403(b) plans, IRAs and life insurance pass under their beneficiary forms, not the trust. Confirm that each form names the people or the trust you intend, with a contingent beneficiary.
Advance health care directive with HIPAA authorization
Certification of trust
Assignment of personal property
Personal property memorandum
Funding instructions
Richmond clients pay $400 for one person or $500 for a married couple. A deed for the Richmond house, or for a rental anywhere in Contra Costa County, is $100 per property, and you record it with the Clerk-Recorder in Martinez. You sign before any California notary in Contra Costa County or elsewhere, and you can call the attorney's office directly at (818) 337-4071. For how the price compares, see what a California living trust costs.
Richmond Living Trust Questions
How much does a living trust cost for a Richmond homeowner?
$400 for one person or $500 for a married couple. That covers the revocable living trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, advance health care directive and certification of trust. The deed that moves your Richmond house into the trust is a separate $100 per property, and you record it with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder at 555 Escobar Street in Martinez.
Is probate for a Richmond resident heard at the courthouse on 37th Street?
No. The George D. Carroll Courthouse at 100 37th Street in Richmond handles small claims, criminal, traffic, landlord and tenant, civil and domestic violence restraining order matters. The Contra Costa court files and hears all probate, guardianship and conservatorship cases at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse, 725 Court Street, Martinez. The court lists (925) 608-2613 for questions about wills, trusts and estates.
What would probate cost on a typical Richmond home?
Zillow's typical Richmond home value was $601,802 for August 2026. On that gross value Probate Code §10810 sets the attorney's statutory fee at $15,036.04, and §10800 gives the executor the same amount, $30,072.08 together. The $435 filing fee and a referee commission of about $602 are added. A living trust is $400 for one person, plus $100 for the deed.
The typical Richmond home is below $750,000. Can my family skip probate with the primary residence petition?
Possibly, but it is still a court case. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, Probate Code §13151 lets heirs petition the court for a decedent's primary residence worth up to $750,000. The petition is filed in Martinez with the $435 fee and notice to heirs, and it does not cover a rental or a second home. A house already deeded to your trust needs no petition at all.
Does Richmond's city transfer tax apply when I deed my home into my own trust?
Richmond charges its own tax under Municipal Code Chapter 13.40, starting at $7.00 per $1,000 below $1,000,000. The chapter defines the value of consideration to include a loan that remains secured on the property after the transfer (§13.40.017), and its exemption sections (§§13.40.040 to 13.40.080) do not mention revocable trusts. Because Richmond's ordinance counts a loan that stays on the property and does not list revocable trusts as exempt, ask the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder before recording whether city tax is due on a deed of a mortgaged home into your trust.
Will moving my Richmond home into my trust raise my property taxes?
No. Revenue and Taxation Code §62(d) says a transfer into a trust you can revoke is not a change in ownership, so the Contra Costa County Assessor keeps your Proposition 13 base year value. You claim that exclusion on the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report filed with the deed. Questions about the form go to the Assessor's Office at (925) 313-7400.
I rent out a unit in Richmond. What changes when it goes into my trust?
The leases, the Rent Program enrollment and the annual Rental Housing Fee stay with the unit. The Rent Program bills the owner on title as recorded with the Contra Costa County Assessor, and the ordinance's definition of landlord includes a successor, so after the deed records the bill comes to you as trustee and later to your successor trustee. For fiscal 2026 to 2027 the fee is $261 for a fully covered unit and $149 for a partially covered unit. A rental deed also pays the $75 SB 2 fee.
Do I have to come to an office to set up a Richmond living trust?
No. You answer the questionnaire online, Attorney Rozsa Gyene (California State Bar #208356) prepares and reviews the documents, you sign before a notary in Richmond or anywhere in California, and you record the deed with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in Martinez. Call (818) 337-4071 to reach the attorney's office.
