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:
Recorded documents and maps are public records; they are available for public viewing in our offices at no cost, but California law prohibits the display of recorded documents on the internet. We store records dating from 1835 to 1979 in our office on microfilm; we store records from 1980 to the present as digital images on computer.
The Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor does offer an online Index of Official Public Records recorded from 1964 to the present. You can search this online index to locate documents you can then review and purchase by visiting our office in Santa Rosa. Documents recorded prior to 1964 (back to 1835) are not indexed online but are indexed in handwritten volumes which you can examine in our office at no cost. We also have a cumulative map index in our office for subdivision maps, parcel maps, surveys and assessment districts.
All recorded documents are indexed by the names of the principal parties. To locate a document in our indexes, you will need to know the name of at least one party and the approximate year the document was recorded.
Please note that you can research and buy copies of birth, death and marriage certificates only at the office of the Sonoma County Clerk.
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.