A Receiver is a court-appointed independent third party commonly utilized in real estate foreclosures and business disputes to manage property and collect rents. Richard Olsen is one of a small cadre of Receivers chosen by Arizona’s legal community to assist in a wide variety of cases. The decision to seek the appointment of a Receiver is not without some cost; however, the benefits of using a Receiver far outweigh any downside in the case of income properties.

Use of a Receiver may be stipulated by the parties or, if the appointment is contested, a hearing will be held to determine the necessity for and qualifications of a Receiver. Once appointed, the Receiver becomes an officer of the Court and as such enjoys a degree of quasi-judicial immunity. Though the Plaintiff or his counsel typically recommends the Receiver, neither the Plaintiff nor the Defendant - who may have stipulated to his appointment - has any direct input in how the Receiver operates the property. A Receiver is in complete control of the Receivership estate and is answerable only to the Court that appointed him.

Deeds of Trust used in Arizona generally contain a provision allowing the beneficiary to seek the appointment of a Receiver in the event of default. The power and authority of a court-appointed Receiver is useful in other types of disputes too. One Phoenix attorney had a Receiver appointed in a divorce case after collecting a judgment proved to be futile. The debtor moved assets between personally controlled companies, thereby keeping them out of the reach of the ex-spouse. By petitioning the court to appoint a Receiver for all the debtor's business entities the judgment was ultimately collected. This is but one example of the power a Receiver possesses.

Even more important than the choice of Receiver is the actual Order of Appointment.  It must be carefully drafted so the Receiver has the explicit powers needed to effectuate the desired result. We have posted six examples of actual Receivership Orders together with a downloadable copy of our current form of Order, a “living” document that is revised whenever circumstances suggest a change. In this age of technology our form of Order requires the turnover of computer passwords; when we started out computers were not yet commonplace. By making our form of Order available for download we’re not practicing law; only sharing ideas that have worked for us in the past.

Resources Information:

• Read the Utah Bar Journal Article on Special Masters and Receivers

• Read Actual Court Issued Orders  Actual Court Issued Orders

© 2005 -2010 Richard K. Olsen
702 East Orangewood Ave ,
Phoenix, Arizona  USA  85020
(602) 216-6600,  Fax : 1-888-252-3832,   rko@cox.net 
web design by Web-Writer