In all cases brought under the provisions of any act providing for the establishment and quieting of title to real property in cases where the public records in the office of the county recorder have been, or shall hereafter be, lost or destroyed, in whole or in any material part by flood, fire or earthquake, all papers filed under order of court nunc pro tunc as of the date when they should have been filed, shall have the same force and effect as if filed on the date when they should have been filed.
§ 1046a.Force and Effect of Papers Filed In Quiet Title Action Lost Or Destroyed By Flood, Fire, Earthquake
Title 14. Of Miscellaneous Provisions · Chapter 7. General Provisions · Enacted 1909 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1046a preserves the effect of papers filed nunc pro tunc in real property quiet title actions after county records were lost or destroyed by flood, fire, or earthquake, treating them as filed on the date they should have been filed.
Full Text of § 1046a
Plain-English Summary
This section addresses a specific historical problem: what happens to a quiet title action when the county recorder's records supporting it are lost or destroyed by a natural disaster. It applies to actions brought under any statute for establishing and quieting title to real property where public records in the county recorder's office were, or later are, lost or destroyed in whole or material part by flood, fire, or earthquake.
Once a court orders papers filed to reconstruct or replace what was lost, those papers relate back. Filed nunc pro tunc as of the date they should have been filed, they carry the same force and effect as if they had been filed on time in the first place, so a party is not penalized for a records loss beyond anyone's control.
Read alongside §§ 1045 and 1046, this section extends the same forgiving approach to lost documents into the quiet title context, where the underlying county records themselves, not just a party's own papers, may be the casualty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does § 1046a protect against?
It protects quiet title actions from being undermined when county recorder's records supporting the action were lost or destroyed by flood, fire, or earthquake.
What does it mean for papers to be filed nunc pro tunc under this section?
It means the papers are filed under court order as of the date they should have originally been filed, giving them the same force and effect as if they had been timely filed.
Does this section apply to any lost document, or only to quiet title actions?
It applies specifically to actions to establish and quiet title to real property affected by lost or destroyed county records.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1909, Ch. 686.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: quiet title lost records earthquake californianunc pro tunc filing destroyed county records