Adding or Removing Someone From Title in California: What It Does to Your Property Tax
Putting a new name on a California deed, or taking one off, is a transfer of an interest in real property, and the county assessor reads every recorded deed. Whether it resets part of your Proposition 13 assessment depends on who the person is and how title is held afterward. The Revenue and Taxation Code excludes spouses and domestic partners outright, protects joint tenancies you stay in, limits the parent-child exclusion to the family home, and treats everyone else as a buyer of the share they receive. This page goes scenario by scenario, with the section that decides each.
Quick answer
Spouse or registered domestic partner: never reassessed (§63, §62(p)). Anyone else added as a joint tenant while you stay on title: not reassessed while you remain (§65). A child given a share: reassessed unless the Prop 19 family-home rules are met (§63.2). Anyone else given or sold a share: that share is reassessed at market value. Your own LLC in the same proportions: not reassessed (§62(a)(2)) until control changes (§64). Transfer tax is due only on money paid (§11911); gifts are exempt (§11930).
Nine title changes, scenario by scenario
| Title change | Reassessment? | Documentary transfer tax? | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add your spouse or registered domestic partner | No — §63 / §62(p), no limit | No | BOE-502-A |
| Remove a spouse or partner (divorce, refinance) | No — §63 / §62(p) | No — §11927 recital if under a divorce judgment or agreement | BOE-502-A |
| Add a child as joint tenant; you stay on title | No while you remain an original-transferor joint tenant (§65) | No — gift (§11930) | BOE-502-A |
| Add a child as tenant in common, or give a share outright | The share is reassessed unless §63.2 applies (your principal residence, child moves in within a year, value allowance) | No — gift | BOE-502-A; BOE-19-P if §63.2 is claimed |
| Add a sibling, friend or unmarried partner | The share transferred is reassessed at market value (§60, §65.1) | No if a gift; yes on any payment | BOE-502-A |
| A co-owner buys out another co-owner | The share bought is reassessed | Yes — 55¢ per $500 of the price, plus city tax | BOE-502-A |
| Deed to an LLC, corporation or partnership you own in the same shares | No — §62(a)(2); reassessed later only on a change in control (§64(c)) or cumulative 50% transfer (§64(d)) | No — §11925(d) | BOE-502-A; BOE-100-B within 90 days of any later change in control |
| An original-transferor joint tenant dies; the other original transferor survives | No — §65(c) | No — §11930 | BOE-502-D within 150 days |
| A parent (the only original transferor) dies; the child joint tenant survives | The whole property is reassessed, not just the parent's half: §65(c) reappraises the interest transferred and every interest the original transferor had previously placed in the joint tenancy, unless §63.2 applies | No | BOE-502-D; BOE-19-P within three years |
Only the interest that changes hands is reassessed (§65.1(a)), with one narrow exception: an interest worth less than 5% of the whole property is not reappraised if it is worth less than $10,000, and transfers within one assessment year are added together for that test. Otherwise adding one person to a sole owner's title as an equal tenant in common moves a one-half interest, so at most half the property gets a new base-year value. The law hub has the worked examples.
Joint tenancy and the “original transferor” (§65)
§65 and Property Tax Rule 462.040 give joint tenancies a rule of their own. Creating a joint tenancy in which the transferor is one of the joint tenants is not a change in ownership; the transferor (and their spouse) become “original transferors”. From then on:
- When a joint tenant who is not an original transferor leaves (by deed or death) and the interest goes to an original transferor, or to the remaining joint tenants when one of them is an original transferor, there is no reappraisal (§65(d)).
- A transfer that ends the last original transferor's interest (a death or a deed) is a change in ownership of that interest and of every interest the original transferors previously placed in the joint tenancy that was excluded at the time (§65(c)), unless another exclusion such as §63 or §63.2 applies. For a sole owner who added a child, that is the whole property.
- The protection works only while title is actually held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship; tenants in common are tested under the ordinary rules (§65.1).
The practical reading for a parent who adds a child: nothing happens on the day the child is added, and nothing happens if the child later quits back; the test comes when the parent dies or leaves title, and Prop 19 then decides whether the child's new interest is excluded.
Children: Prop 19 narrowed the exclusion (§63.2)
Since February 16, 2021 the parent-child exclusion in §63.2 applies only to a family home (the transferor's principal residence) that the child makes their own principal residence within one year, claiming the Homeowners' or Disabled Veterans' Exemption, or to a family farm. The excluded amount is the factored base-year value plus an allowance that started at $1 million and is adjusted by the BOE every two years ($1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025 through February 15, 2027); value above that is added to the assessment. A share of a rental, a vacation home or a home the child does not move into is reassessed. The Prop 19 calculator shows the arithmetic and the Prop 19 guide what still works.
Your own LLC, corporation or partnership (§62(a)(2), §64)
A deed from you to an entity you own in the same proportions only changes the method of holding title, and §62(a)(2) excludes it. The transfer tax act says the same in §11925(d):
No levy shall be imposed pursuant to this part by reason of any transfer between an individual or individuals and a legal entity or between legal entities that results solely in a change in the method of holding title to the realty and in which proportional ownership interests in the realty, whether represented by stock, membership interest, partnership interest, cotenancy interest, or otherwise, directly or indirectly, remain the same immediately after the transfer.
The entity's real property is then reassessed only on a change in control, when one person or entity comes to own more than 50% of it (§64(c)), or when the original co-owners who used the §62(a)(2) exclusion cumulatively transfer more than 50% of the interests (§64(d)). Either event must be reported to the Board of Equalization on BOE-100-B within 90 days (§480.1, §480.2); an unfiled statement removes every time limit on an escape assessment (§532(b)(3)).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does adding someone to the title of my house trigger reassessment in California?
It depends on who. Adding a spouse or registered domestic partner is excluded (§63, §62(p)). Adding anyone else as a joint tenant while you stay on title is excluded under §65 for as long as you, the "original transferor", remain a joint tenant; adding anyone else as a tenant in common, or by a deed where you leave title, is a change in ownership of the share transferred and that share is reassessed at market value. A child added as tenant in common gets no exclusion unless the Prop 19 family-home rules in §63.2 are met.
Does adding my child to my deed trigger reassessment?
Added as a joint tenant with you staying on title: no, under §65, until the joint tenancy ends. Added as a tenant in common, or given a share outright: the share is reassessed unless §63.2 applies, which requires that the home be your principal residence, that the child make it theirs within a year and claim the Homeowners' or Disabled Veterans' Exemption, and that the value stay within the Prop 19 allowance. A child who does not live in the home does not qualify, whatever the deed says.
Does removing someone from title trigger reassessment?
Removing a spouse or domestic partner: no (§63, §62(p)). A joint tenant who was not an original transferor deeding their interest back to an original transferor, or to the remaining joint tenants when one is an original transferor: no (§65(d)). Buying out a co-owner who paid for their share: yes, the share you acquire is reassessed and documentary transfer tax is due on the consideration (§11911). Removing yourself and leaving a child as sole owner ends the §65 protection and is tested under §63.2.
What happens to property tax when a joint tenant dies?
If the surviving joint tenant is an original transferor, the deceased's interest passes without reassessment (§65(c) when the deceased was also an original transferor, §65(d) when not). If the survivor is not — for example a child who was added by a parent who has now died — §65(c) reappraises not only the deceased parent's interest but every interest that parent had placed in the joint tenancy and that was excluded at the time: for a sole owner who added one child, that is the whole property. Only the §63.2 family-home exclusion can prevent it. The survivor files BOE-502-D within 150 days (§480(b)).
Can I add my LLC to title without reassessment?
Deeding the property from yourself to an entity you own in exactly the same proportions is excluded under §62(a)(2) and exempt from transfer tax under §11925(d). The entity is then watched under §64: if more than 50% of its interests are later acquired by one person or entity (§64(c)), or if the original co-owners cumulatively transfer more than 50% (§64(d)), the real property is reassessed, and a BOE-100-B must be filed with the Board of Equalization within 90 days (§480.1, §480.2).
Is there transfer tax when I add someone to my deed?
Not if nothing is paid: the county tax applies only where consideration exceeds $100 (§11911), and a gift of an interest is exempt under §11930. Adding a spouse under a divorce settlement is exempt under §11927 with the required recital. Where the person added pays for their share, the tax is 55¢ per $500 of what they pay, plus any city transfer tax; the transfer tax calculator gives both.
Learn More
Sources: Revenue and Taxation Code §§60–65.1, 110.1, 480–482, 532 and 11911–11934, Legislature's bulk data (build of October 18, 2026); §11925(d) is quoted verbatim, the rest paraphrased with the section cited. Board of Equalization Property Tax Rules 462.040 (joint tenancies), 462.180 (legal entities) and 462.260 (date of change in ownership); forms BOE-502-A, BOE-502-D, BOE-19-P and BOE-100-B. Educational information, not legal or tax advice; adding someone to title also has gift-tax, income-tax (basis), creditor and lender-consent consequences that are not property tax.
Last reviewed: October 2026.