About Federal Receivers
Types of Receiverships
The California Code of Civil Procedure Section 564 lists many of the traditional types of cases in which receivers may be appointed. They include but are not limited to the following:
- Preservation of a common fund or property in dispute and in danger of injury or dissipation
- Rents, Issues and Profits (Real Estate)
- Substandard Housing – The California Supreme Court reaffirmed the broad discretion that appointing courts have in directing their receivers' administrations and established that "rehabilitation" of substandard properties in Health and Safety Code receiverships may reasonably include demolition when repair is uneconomic per City of Santa Monica v. Guillermo Gonzales, 43 Cal. 4th 905 (2008 Cal. LEXIS 5445), 2008. This opinion is a strong endorsement of the Health & Safety Code receivership remedy for substandard housing.
- Housing Completion/Sale
- Enforcement of a judgment/in aid of execution – California Code of Civil Procedure Section 708.620 provides the circumstances in which a receiver in aid of execution may be appointed. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 708.510(a) authorizes the court to order a judgment debtor to assign to a receiver in aid of execution all or part of a right to payments- including rents, commissions, royalties, payments due from a patent or copyright, the loan value of an insurance policy, or wages due from the federal government that are not subject to an earnings withholding order. A receiver in aid of execution is vested with the same powers as the judgment creditor to collect the judgment.
- Disposition of property according to a judgment or the preservation of property pending appeal
- Windup of a dissolved corporation
- Partition actions
- Fraudulent transfer actions
- Conduct an unlawful detainer action
- Take possession of a corporation/entity that is involvement or in danger of insolvency
- Enforce (Family Law, other civil actions) orders, including collection of support, sell community assets, operate businesses and professional practices and cause their sale for the benefit of the community estate; intercede to stop an IRS assets seizure – Under the Family Code, a receiver may be appointed to enforce any family law order or judgment. The most typical cases for the involvement of receivers include those in which a party is seeking to enforce spousal or child support orders or to preserve, manage, or safeguard community property pending a property division order.
- To take possession of assets that may be involved in fraudulent transfer or purchase transactions, both private creditor and state and federal regulatory actions
- Enforcement of charging orders for collection of money against interest in partnerships and limited liability companies; liquidate partnership and LLC's
- Criminal receiverships – Two different statutes authorize the appointment of a receiver in criminal cases. Penal Code Section 186.11, sometimes called the Freeze and Seize Law, provides for the appointment of a receiver, at the request of a prosecuting agency, when a complaint or indictment charges a person with committing two or more felonies in which a material element is fraud or embezzlement involving a pattern of related felony conduct.
- Liquidate professional practices
- Sell ABC licenses
- Sale of intellectual property rights
- Regulatory – fraud/ponzi schemes, real estate, consumer protection, department of real estate, corporations commission – To protect the public, various statues authorize the court to appoint a general equity receiver. The function of this type of receiver is to take control of the defendant's assets or business and sometimes, if the defendant is a corporation or partnership, the defendant itself.2
2 Peter A. Davidson, Esq.