Deed of Trust and Promissory Note (2024)

1

Determine the Parties to The Agreement

There will be three parties to these agreements. Identifying these parties ahead of time will make it easier to complete the forms.

Beneficiary

The beneficiary, more commonly known as the lender, is the person or company that lends the borrower money, and who will be entitled to be repaid from the proceeds of a foreclosure. If the lender is a corporation, be sure to include language such as “Lender is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of California” in your documents.

Borrower(s)

If there are two or more borrowers, they will be borrowing the money “jointly and severally.” This means each debtor is responsible (liable) for the entire amount of the debt. A creditor may collect from whichever debtor has the “deep pocket” (lots of money); the debtor who pays may demand contributions from the other debtors. Joint borrowers will want to carefully consider whether or not they wish to be jointly responsible with their co-borrower.

When the property used as security for the loan is owned by more than one person, you may want to consider who you will name as borrowers and owners of the property on the deed of trust. The names ofallowners of the property, and their spouses, must be included to give the entire property (all owners’ interests in the property) as security. A co-owner can only give as security his or her interest in the property. In other words, a lender wants to be sure that all owners and their spouses sign the deed of trust as a condition of lending the money (unless the lender is willing to take as security one co-owner’s interest in property).

Trustee

When a bank or savings and loan finances the purchase of real estate, the trustee is almost always a title or trust company. Sometimes real estate brokers act as trustees. Attorneys commonly write in the name of a title company as trustee on a trust deed, without consulting the title company. Title companies even give out trust deed forms with their names already printed in the “trustee” space. They don’t mind being named as trustee because a trustee has nothing to do unless the borrower defaults. If that happens, most title or escrow companies turn the deed over to a professional foreclosure firm.

2

Prepare the Deed of Trust and Promissory Note

The Deed of Trust and Promissory Note must be in a format that the Sacramento County Clerk/Recorder’s Office will accept. Customizable templates may be downloaded from these links:

• Promissory Note
• Deed of Trust

Sample filled-in forms with instructions are available at the end of this Guide.

3

Get the Signatures Notarized

Notarization is required before recording these documents with the County Recorder. The notary’s acknowledgment of the trustor’s signature is formal proof that the signature is genuine. You can find a notary at your bank, a mailing service, or in the Yellow Pages. with instructions are available at the end of this Guide.

4

Record the Signed Documents at the County Recorder’s Office

Take the original signed and notarized Deed of Trust and Promissory Note to the County Recorder’s Office for the county where the property is located. In Sacramento, this is at 3636 American River Drive, Ste. 110, Sacramento CA 95864. You will need to pay a fee (you can check the current recording fees in Sacramento). The clerk in the recorder’s office will take your original documents and stamp them with the date, time, a filing number, and book and page numbers. The original documents will be mailed back to you. Note: trust deeds are exempt from the documentary transfer tax.California Revenue and Taxation Code § 11921.

5

What Happens Next?

If the borrower pays off the loan without defaulting (as happens in most cases), the beneficiary (lender) will request the trustee execute and record a deed reconveying the property to the borrower. You can find aDeed of Full Reconveyanceon the Find A Form page of our website.