Advice filling out a California PCOR for adding my wife to title?

**jwow313** · 11-29-2010, 09:08 PM

Hi all,

I would appreciate some advice on filling out a California "Preliminary Change of Ownership" form to add my wife to the title for my house. I closed on the house in August, and we got married in October. I am on title with my parents, currently, and want to add my wife as a fourth, all as joint tenants. I'm not sure which boxes to check. Specifically, I've checked "No" to the questions:

"Is this a transfer solely between a husband and wife"
and "Is this a transfer solely between parents and a son/daughter?"

However, given all the boxes I've checked "No" to, it seems like the county recorder will require a reassessment of the property, even though it's been only a few months, and this is "almost" each of those two situations.

Any help would be much appreciated here so I don't waste hours in the county recorder's office.

As a secondary/related question, do I get an opportunity to ask the county recorder's office if I've filled out the form properly before handing it to them, so it doesn't get rejected later?

Many Thanks!

-j

**arenee** · 12-01-2010, 07:51 PM

are you sure you mean a change of address form and not a change of ownership form?? generally if the present parties who own the property are transferring ownership by just adding someone to the joint tenancy, a reassessment of the property isn't required. if you want to be on the safe side, as a california attorney on justanswers.com. it's really cheap to do so.

**jwow313** · 12-01-2010, 08:05 PM

Sorry, terrible typo. Yes, I meant "Preliminary Change of Ownership Report" (PCOR) form. I've edited my post above.

Which boxes am I supposed to check on the form? The only one that appears to apply to me is box F. "Did this transfer result in the creation of a joint tenancy in which the seller (transferor) remains as one of the joint tenants?".

Is checking "Yes" to this box enough to get me an exception for getting reassessed?

If I don't get any other answers, I suppose I will ask a lawyer as suggested. THank you for the tip!

**arenee** · 12-01-2010, 08:19 PM

i'm doing this from memory of my days of practicing law in california. in part one there's only one box that needs to be checked. it probably says something like transfer where transferring party remains as one of the joint tenants or the parties retain proportional shares equal after the transfer.

try doing a google search for the form and instructions. make sure you're looking at the most recently revised form and corresponding instructions.

**jwow313** · 12-01-2010, 08:34 PM

Thank you for your help!

I did some Googl'ing around, and found the appropriate section of the California tax code (63.1) that defines the relationship between a parent and child as including a daughter-in-law as a child. Perhaps this is patently obvious, but I wasn't sure if the law treats in-laws as "children". At any rate, I checked the box for child-parent transfer, and followed another Google search for filing a form for claim for reassessment exclusion due to parent-child transfer.

I would post the links to these docs for others, but as I'm new to the board, am not allowed to post URLs.

Thanks for helping me get on the right footing!

**arenee** · 12-01-2010, 08:51 PM

no problem. consider posting your completed form for review on justanswers. u get to choose the price you pay an attorney. if it's reasonable, which can be as low as 18 bucks, some attorney will check it for you. and you don't have to pay unless you're satisfied with the answer. just make sure you request or choose a california attorney.