The perfecting of an appeal shall not stay enforcement of the judgment or order in the trial court if the judgment or order appealed from directs the execution of one or more instruments unless the instrument or instruments are executed and deposited in the office of the clerk of the court where the original judgment or order is entered to abide the order of the reviewing court.
§ 917.3.Judgment Or Order Directing Execution of One Or More Instruments
Title 13. Appeals In Civil Actions · Chapter 2. Stay of Enforcement and Other Proceedings · Enacted 1968 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 917.3 stays enforcement of a judgment or order that directs the execution of one or more instruments only if the appellant executes those instruments and deposits them with the clerk of the trial court to abide the reviewing court's decision.
Full Text of § 917.3
Plain-English Summary
Some judgments don't order money paid or property handed over — they order a document signed, such as a deed or an assignment. Section 917.3 handles that situation without a bond at all. Instead of an undertaking, the appellant executes the required instrument or instruments and deposits them with the clerk of the court where the judgment was entered.
Those signed instruments then sit with the clerk, held to abide whatever the reviewing court ultimately orders. If the judgment is affirmed, the instruments can be released to give effect to it; if reversed, the appellant never had to hand them over to the other side in the first place. It's a narrower, document-specific stand-in for the bond mechanism the rest of this chapter uses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does § 917.3 require an appeal bond?
No. Instead of an undertaking, the appellant executes the required instrument and deposits it with the clerk of the trial court.
What kind of judgment triggers § 917.3?
A judgment or order directing the execution of one or more instruments, such as a deed or other document.
What happens to the deposited instrument while the appeal is pending?
It stays with the clerk of the court where the original judgment or order was entered, to abide the reviewing court's decision.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1968, Ch. 385.
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: ccp 917.3 stay judgment directing execution of instrumentappeal deposit deed with court clerk californiastay order to sign document pending appeal