(a) No party, or attorney of a party, or person interested in an action, or related to any judge of the court by consanguinity or affinity within the third degree, can be appointed receiver therein without the written consent of the parties, filed with the clerk.
§ 566.When Consent of Parties Required For Appointment; Undertaking If Receiver Appointed Upon Ex Parte Application
Title 7. Other Provisional Remedies In Civil Actions · Chapter 5. Receivers · Last amended 1982 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 566 bars a party, a party's attorney, an interested person, or a close relative of the judge from serving as receiver without the parties' written consent, and requires the court to demand an undertaking from anyone applying ex parte for a receiver's appointment to cover damages if the appointment turns out to be wrongful.
Full Text of § 566
(b) If a receiver is appointed upon an ex parte application, the court, before making the order, must require from the applicant an undertaking in an amount to be fixed by the court, to the effect that the applicant will pay to the defendant all damages the defendant may sustain by reason of the appointment of the receiver and the entry by the receiver upon the duties, in case the applicant shall have procured the appointment wrongfully, maliciously, or without sufficient cause.
Plain-English Summary
Section 566 guards against conflicts of interest in choosing who runs the receivership. Subdivision (a) keeps the job away from anyone who has a stake in the outcome or a connection to the case: a party, a party's attorney, anyone with an interest in the action, or anyone related to the judge within the third degree by blood or marriage. The only way around that bar is written consent from the parties, filed with the clerk.
Subdivision (b) protects the defendant from the other side of the appointment process -- the ex parte application, where the defendant has no chance to object before a receiver takes control of property. Before granting an appointment on that kind of application, the court has to require the applicant post an undertaking, in an amount the court fixes, promising to pay the defendant all damages the defendant sustains if the appointment turns out to have been procured wrongfully, maliciously, or without sufficient cause.
Together these two rules address the two biggest risks in receivership practice: a self-interested receiver, and an unchecked ex parte appointment. The undertaking required here is separate from the receiver's own oath and bond under § 567, which protects the court and the parties from the receiver's later misconduct rather than from a wrongful initial appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a party to the lawsuit serve as the receiver in that same case?
Not without the written consent of the parties filed with the clerk. Section 566(a) otherwise bars a party, a party's attorney, an interested person, or a close relative of the judge from serving.
What relatives of the judge are barred from being appointed receiver?
Anyone related to the judge by consanguinity or affinity within the third degree.
What must a plaintiff post before getting an ex parte receiver appointment?
An undertaking, in an amount the court fixes, covering damages the defendant may sustain if the appointment was procured wrongfully, maliciously, or without sufficient cause.
What does this undertaking protect against?
It protects a defendant against a receiver appointed without notice, by giving the defendant a fund to recover from if the ex parte appointment turns out to have been unjustified.
Amendment History
Amended by Stats. 1982, Ch. 517, Sec. 127.
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
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