Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

It is never necessary, but it is good practice in case the defendant fails to make payments as agreed. If the attorney waits until the defendant defaults on the agreement, the defendant may have encumbered the property, sold it, or had other judgments entered and the abstracts on those later judgments would wind up ahead in priority for payment. It could even be considered malpractice not to record the abstract unless there was equivalent security provided as part of the agreement.

Not only is it not necessary, it is wholly improper unless the parties agreed to enter the settlement agreement as a judgment (now or in the event of a default). One of the typical purposes of a settlement is to avoid entering a judgment that will have an impact on the defendant's credit, etc.

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it is good practice in the event you fail to make payments. It also establishes prority over other unsecured creditors who record their abstract after they do.