A dwelling in which an owner or spouse of an owner resides may be selected as a declared homestead pursuant to this article by recording a homestead declaration in the office of the county recorder of the county where the dwelling is located. From and after the time of recording, the dwelling is a declared homestead for the purposes of this article.
§ 704.920.Recording Homestead Declaration
Title 9. Enforcement of Judgments · Division 2 · Chapter 4. Exemptions · Article 5. Declared Homesteads · Enacted 1982 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 704.920 lets an owner who resides in a dwelling, or whose spouse resides there, select it as a declared homestead by recording a homestead declaration with the county recorder where the dwelling is located, making it a declared homestead from the moment of recording.
Full Text of § 704.920
Plain-English Summary
This is the one act that separates a declared homestead from the automatic exemption: recording. A dwelling in which an owner or the owner's spouse resides can become a declared homestead by recording a homestead declaration in the office of the county recorder where the dwelling sits.
Nothing else is required to trigger the protection — from the moment of recording forward, the dwelling is a declared homestead for purposes of this article. That simplicity is deliberate. Unlike the automatic exemption under Article 4, which applies without any filing but only kicks in when a creditor tries to force a sale, a declared homestead exists as a matter of public record the instant the declaration is recorded, giving it benefits — like the proceeds protection in § 704.960 and the lien-attachment rule in § 704.950 — that depend on that advance recording.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does someone create a declared homestead?
By recording a homestead declaration with the county recorder in the county where the dwelling is located.
Does anything else need to happen besides recording?
No. From the time of recording, the dwelling is a declared homestead for purposes of this article.
Who can record a declaration on a given dwelling?
An owner who resides there, or an owner whose spouse resides there.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1982, Ch. 1364, Sec. 2. Operative July 1, 1983, by Sec. 3 of Ch. 1364.
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: how to record a homestead declaration californiadeclare a homestead california procedure