This is the web site of the County of Sonoma, California
This page is from the site of the Recorder Division of the Clerk • Recorder • Assessor Department. A few important links follow:
This is the web site of the County of Sonoma, California
This page is from the site of the Recorder Division of the Clerk • Recorder • Assessor Department. A few important links follow:
The Sonoma County Recorder's Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We are located in Santa Rosa, in the Fiscal Building at the County of Sonoma Administration Center. Our street address is:
Sonoma County Recorder;
5 8 5 Fiscal Drive, Suite 103 dash-F;
Santa Rosa, California; 9 5 4 0 3
Our mailing address is:
Visit our Contact Us page for phone numbers, a map and more information about getting in touch with us.
This office records documents and files maps, maintaining cross-reference indexes to these records. Document Transfer Tax is collected on transfers of real property. Examples of typical recorded documents are:
Recorded documents are microfilmed as a permanent record and the original document is returned to the customer after filming. Filed documents are retained for a specified length of time, or kept permanently, as in the case of maps. All records are indexed by the names of the principal parties to the document and by the year recorded. The records are open for public inspection and copies may be purchased from this office.
On September 9, 1850 California was admitted as the 31st state and one of the first acts of the legislature was to adopt a recording system.
Under the Spanish and Mexican governments there were no statewide registry or recording laws, so it was necessary that some device be created by which evidence of title to, or an interest in land could be collected in a convenient and safe public place. The system allows persons intending to purchase or otherwise deal with land to be informed as to the ownership and condition of the title, and be protected from secret conveyance and liens.
The basis of the California recording system is modeled after the recording system established by the American Colonies and in use in many of the eastern states at the time California became a state.
This system provided for the indexing of the names of parties to the document in volumes and the copying of the actual document into separate volumes. This copying was done first by hand and in later years by typing and then by filming.
Separate sets of indexes and volumes were provided for each type of document. Government Codes 27232 through 27254 presently list 21 different types of indexes that the Recorder shall provide for.
This system of indexing became cumbersome as the volume of recorded documents grew and in 1921 the legislature provided that a combined General Index could be used by the Recorder to index all types of documents.
The following is an Important Notice...
The staff of the Recorder's Office are forbidden by California legal codes to practice law or provide legal advice; this prohibition includes giving advice about what forms you might need or how you should fill them out.
This site was last revised by webmaster
News Item 1. Searching Records: The Recorder's Index is now Available on the Internet!
You can search the Recorder's Index to Official Public Records that have been recorded in the Sonoma County Recorder's Office from January 1, 1964, to the present. To begin your search, please visit our page titled Search Records.
Legislative changes go into effect each year on January 1. Among changes for 2008 are: changes to a form commonly used by notaries and a new restriction pertaining to recording documents with social security numbers. For more information, please visit our page titled Legislative Changes.
News item 3. Fee Increases: There are some Document Recording Fee Increases for 2008
Some document recording fee increases go into effect on January 1. The increases are to offset the cost of implementing the social security redaction program established by the legislature pursuant to Assembly Bill number 1168. For more information, please visit our Fee Schedule and our page titled Legislative Changes.
Our current featured artist is Jack Stuppin.
Sonoma Vines,
by Jack Stuppin, is an oil landscape depicting summer in Sonoma County. We stand on a slope under a quiet, hazy blue sky, gazing across a hillside vineyard into the distance at Mount St. Helena. The artist has used a tapestry of bright, rich blues, yellows and greens to capture the spectacular view before us. In the distance, at the foot of the mountain, lie chapparal-covered hills edged with dense evergreen forest.