How To Enforce A Money Judgment In New York City

The Court Enters The Judgment

A money judgment is the court’s decision that one side owes money to the other. The court enters it, which means it becomes part of the court’s record. If the debtor does not pay, the creditor can start collecting. In the Civil Court of the City of New York, an execution can be issued as soon as the judgment is entered. If your judgment comes from another court, such as the Supreme Court, the clerk first records it in the county’s records, which court papers call docketing. Once that is done, an execution can be issued.

An Execution Is Issued

Only two people can issue an execution: the creditor’s attorney or the clerk of the court. A marshal cannot issue one and cannot act as the creditor’s lawyer. The execution states the court, the date the judgment was entered, the amount of the judgment, the amount still owed and the names of both sides. It also carries notices about money the law protects.

The Creditor Identifies The Debtor’s Assets

Assets are things of value, like a paycheck, money in a bank or a car. Finding them is the creditor’s job. A City Marshal is prohibited from searching for a debtor’s assets, so the marshal will ask you where they are. Useful facts include the debtor’s employer and the debtor’s bank and branch. For other property, say what it is and where it sits.

The Execution Goes To A City Marshal

The execution is then delivered to a City Marshal. Every City Marshal appears on the Department of Investigation’s Marshals List. The marshal writes down the date and the time the execution arrives, because the first execution in line gets paid first. Some fees are paid in advance, and New York State law sets them. See Fees And Poundage.

Only your attorney or the court clerk can issue the execution; the marshal cannot. You choose a City Marshal and deliver the execution to that office. How to send it to Marshal Fraiden’s office is on Filing Requirements And Timelines. The marshal must write the date, hour and minute the execution arrived on the paper and enter it in the office records within 24 hours, because executions are paid in the order they are received. The marshal then serves the notices the law requires and begins enforcement. If you have not chosen a marshal yet, see Which NYC Marshal Should I Work With?

New York State law sets the marshal’s fees, and in most matters the debtor ends up paying them. The marshal collects the judgment, the fees the law fixes and poundage, which is 5 percent of the money collected, from the debtor, and sends the rest to the creditor. Some fees are paid first by the creditor. The law marks certain fees as payable in advance, such as the fee for receiving the execution and mileage, and the creditor pays those up front. They are added to what the marshal collects from the debtor and returned to the creditor. If the two sides settle after the execution is served or a levy is made, poundage is still owed, figured on the judgment or the settlement amount, whichever is less. Fees already earned for work done, such as the receiving fee and mileage, are kept by the marshal, and come back to the creditor only if the settlement collects them from the debtor.

The Marshal Serves The Execution

This is the levy. How it works depends on the kind of execution, explained in The Three Ways A City Marshal Collects A Judgment. At each step, New York State law sets the notices that must be served and the waiting periods that must pass. Some income and property is protected by law and cannot be taken at all.

Collected Money Is Sent To The Creditor

When money comes in, the marshal takes out the fees New York law fixes and sends the rest to the creditor within 30 days. When the work is finished, the marshal returns the execution to the court with a note of what was done.