As a judgment creditor, you may have won your lawsuit, but getting the debtor to pay up can be an arduous process. In New York, creditors have several tools at their disposal to try to collect money from judgment debtors. These include post-judgment subpoenas to...
Judgments
Intervening in a judgment debtor’s lawsuit to levy on settlement proceeds
After you win a lawsuit and obtain a judgment against a defendant, you may face a second battle getting the defendant to pay up. Fortunately, New York law provides several options for judgment creditors to collect money owed to them by judgment debtors. These include...
How To Domesticate an Out-of-State Judgment in New York
Say your client has obtained a judgment against a debtor in another state. If the judgment debtor has assets in New York, attaching the judgment to those assets may be an effective way for your client to enforce the judgment and collect on the debt. But before this...
Restraining Notices: What Are They, And What To Do If You Receive One
Once a judgment is entered, a plaintiff/judgment creditor can use an array of legal tools to try and collect the money owed from the defendant/judgment debtor. One such tool is a restraining notice. A restraining notice requires a person or entity to refrain from...
Judgments as Liens on Real Property: How Does Your Client Get Paid?
If your client is awarded a judgment in a civil matter in New York State, the other party (known as the judgment debtor) might not pay up. A judgment lien can be placed on the judgment debtor’s real property to help ensure your client gets their money, but such liens...
Collecting from a third party who owes money to your judgment debtor
As a judgment creditor with a money judgment in New York, you have options for collecting the money owed to you and satisfying the debt. If you know that a third party owes or will owe money to your judgment debtor, New York law provides for a “special proceeding”...
What is judgment enforcement?
When a party is successful in a civil lawsuit, the court may award that party a judgment which states that the losing side owes the successful party a sum of money. Judgment enforcement is the legal process under which the winning party attempts to satisfy the...
Protecting Creditors Between Verdict and Judgment
At the conclusion of a typical lawsuit, a decision or verdict is rendered in favor of one party and against the other. If the plaintiff is the prevailing party, then the plaintiff will seek to enter a judgment against the defendant, at which point the plaintiff may...
Enforcing Judgments Via Restraining Notices
One of the most powerful tools in a judgment creditor's arsenal is the restraining notice. A restraining notice requires the party served to freeze any assets in its possession that belong or are owed to the debtor, and can be extremely effective when served to the...
How Can Courts Help Creditors Enforce Subpoenas?
Subpoenas are easily the most common means by which creditors seek to enforce judgments. Article 52 of the CPLR provides creditors with broad authority to issue subpoenas when seeking to collect on judgments. Subpoenas can be served on debtors as well as any third...