NY CPLR § 5222 (2021)
2021 New York Laws CVP - Civil Practice Law and Rules Article 52 - Enforcement of Money Judgments 5222 - Restraining Notice.

§  5222.  Restraining  notice.  (a)  Issuance; on whom served; form; service. A restraining notice may be issued by the clerk of the court or the attorney for the judgment creditor as officer of the  court,  or  by the  support  collection  unit  designated  by  the  appropriate  social services district. It may be served upon any person, except the employer of a judgment  debtor  or  obligor  where  the  property  sought  to  be restrained  consists  of  wages  or  salary  due or to become due to the judgment debtor or obligor. It shall be served personally  in  the  same manner  as  a summons or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested or if issued by the support collection unit, by regular  mail, or  by electronic means as set forth in subdivision (g) of this section. It shall specify all of the parties to the action,  the  date  that  the judgment  or  order  was entered, the court in which it was entered, the amount of the judgment or order and the amount  then  due  thereon,  the names  of  all  parties  in whose favor and against whom the judgment or order was entered, it shall set forth subdivision (b)  and  shall  state that  disobedience  is  punishable  as a contempt of court, and it shall contain an original signature or copy of the original signature  of  the clerk  of  the  court  or attorney or the name of the support collection unit which issued it. Service of a restraining notice upon a  department or  agency of the state or upon an institution under its direction shall be made by serving a copy upon the head of the department, or the person designated by him or her and upon the  state  department  of  audit  and control  at  its  office  in  Albany; a restraining notice served upon a state board,  commission,  body  or  agency  which  is  not  within  any department  of the state shall be made by serving the restraining notice upon the state department of audit and control at its office in  Albany. Service at the office of a department of the state in Albany may be made by  the  sheriff  of  any county by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or if issued  by  the  support  collection  unit,  by regular mail.  (b) Effect of restraint; prohibition of transfer; duration. A judgment debtor  or obligor served with a restraining notice is forbidden to make or suffer any  sale,  assignment,  transfer  or  interference  with  any property  in  which  he  or  she has an interest, except as set forth in subdivisions (h) and (i) of this section, and except upon  direction  of the  sheriff or pursuant to an order of the court, until the judgment or order is satisfied or vacated. A restraining notice served upon a person other than the judgment debtor or obligor is effective only if,  at  the time of service, he or she owes a debt to the judgment debtor or obligor or  he or she is in the possession or custody of property in which he or she knows or has reason to believe the judgment debtor or obligor has an interest, or if the judgment creditor or  support  collection  unit  has stated  in the notice that a specified debt is owed by the person served to the judgment debtor or obligor or that the judgment debtor or obligor has an interest in specified property in the possession  or  custody  of the  person served. All property in which the judgment debtor or obligor is known or believed to have an interest then in and  thereafter  coming into the possession or custody of such a person, including any specified in  the  notice, and all debts of such a person, including any specified in the notice, then due and thereafter coming due to the judgment debtor or obligor, shall be subject to  the  notice  except  as  set  forth  in subdivisions  (h) and (i) of this section. Such a person is forbidden to make or suffer any sale, assignment or transfer of, or any  interference with,  any  such  property, or pay over or otherwise dispose of any such debt, to any person other than the sheriff  or  the  support  collection unit,  except  as set forth in subdivisions (h) and (i) of this section, and except upon direction of the sheriff or pursuant to an order of  the  court,  until the expiration of one year after the notice is served upon him or her, or until the judgment or  order  is  satisfied  or  vacated, whichever  event first occurs. A judgment creditor or support collection unit  which  has  specified  personal  property or debt in a restraining notice shall be liable to the owner of the property  or  the  person  to whom the debt is owed, if other than the judgment debtor or obligor, for any  damages sustained by reason of the restraint. If a garnishee served with a restraining notice withholds the payment of  money  belonging  or owed  to  the judgment debtor or obligor in an amount equal to twice the amount due on the judgment or  order,  the  restraining  notice  is  not effective as to other property or money.  (c)  Subsequent  notice. Leave of court is required to serve more than one restraining notice upon the same person with  respect  to  the  same judgment  or  order.  A  judgment creditor shall not serve more than two restraining notices per year upon a natural person's banking institution account.  (d) Notice to judgment debtor or obligor. Except where the  provisions of   section   fifty-two   hundred  twenty-two-a  of  this  article  are applicable, pursuant to subdivision (a) of such section, if a notice  in the  form  prescribed  in  subdivision  (e) of this section has not been given to the judgment debtor or obligor within a year before service  of a restraining notice, a copy of the restraining notice together with the notice to judgment debtor or obligor shall be mailed by first class mail or  personally  delivered  to  each  judgment debtor or obligor who is a natural person within four  days  of  the  service  of  the  restraining notice.  Such  notice  shall  be  mailed  to the defendant at his or her residence  address;  or  in  the  event  such  mailing  is  returned  as undeliverable  by  the  post  office, or if the residence address of the defendant is unknown, then to the defendant in  care  of  the  place  of employment  of the defendant if known, in an envelope bearing the legend "personal and confidential" and not indicating on the  outside  thereof, by  the  return  address or otherwise, that the communication is from an attorney or concerns a judgment or order; or if  neither  the  residence address  nor  the  place of employment of the defendant is known then to the defendant at any other known address.  (e) Content of notice. The notice required by subdivision (d) of  this section shall be in substantially the following form and may be included in the restraining notice:                   NOTICE TO JUDGMENT DEBTOR OR OBLIGOR   Money  or  property  belonging  to  you may have been taken or held in order to satisfy a judgment or order which has been entered against you. Read this carefully.                  YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK   State and federal laws prevent certain money or  property  from  being taken  to satisfy judgments or orders. Such money or property is said to be "exempt". The following is a partial  list  of  money  which  may  be exempt:   1. Supplemental security income, (SSI);   2. Social security;   3. Public assistance (welfare);   4. Spousal support, maintenance (alimony) or child support;   5. Unemployment benefits;   6. Disability benefits;   7. Workers' compensation benefits;   8. Public or private pensions;   9. Veterans benefits;   10.  Ninety  percent  of your wages or salary earned in the last sixty days;    11.  Twenty-five  hundred  dollars  of  any  bank  account  containing statutorily  exempt  payments  that  were deposited electronically or by direct deposit within the  last  forty-five  days,  including,  but  not limited to, your social security, supplemental security income, veterans benefits,   public   assistance,   workers'  compensation,  unemployment insurance, public or private  pensions,  railroad  retirement  benefits, black lung benefits, or child support payments;   12. Railroad retirement;   13. Black lung benefits; and   14.  COVID-19  stimulus  relief  for  individuals  and  families  with children.   If you think that any of your money that has been  taken  or  held  is exempt,  you  must  act promptly because the money may be applied to the judgment or order. If you claim that any of your  money  that  has  been taken or held is exempt, you may contact the person sending this notice.   Also,  YOU  MAY CONSULT AN ATTORNEY, INCLUDING ANY FREE LEGAL SERVICES ORGANIZATION IF YOU QUALIFY.  You  can  also  go  to  court  without  an attorney to get your money back. Bring this notice with you when you go. You  are  allowed  to  try to prove to a judge that your money is exempt from collection under New York civil practice law  and  rules,  sections fifty-two   hundred  twenty-two-a,  fifty-two  hundred  thirty-nine  and fifty-two hundred forty. If you do not have a lawyer, the clerk  of  the court  may give you forms to help you prove your account contains exempt money that the creditor cannot collect. The law (New York civil practice law and rules, article four and sections fifty-two  hundred  thirty-nine and fifty-two hundred forty) provides a procedure for determination of a claim to an exemption.  (f)  For  the  purposes  of  this  section "order" shall mean an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction  directing  the  payment  of support,  alimony  or  maintenance  upon which a "default" as defined in paragraph  seven  of  subdivision  (a)  of  section  fifty-two   hundred forty-one of this article has been established subject to the procedures established  for  the  determination  of  a "mistake of fact" for income executions pursuant to subdivision  (e)  of  section  fifty-two  hundred forty-one  of  this article except that for the purposes of this section only a default shall not  be  founded  upon  retroactive  child  support obligations  as  defined  in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section four hundred forty of the  family  court  act  and  subdivision  one  of section two hundred forty and paragraph b of subdivision nine of section two hundred thirty-six of the domestic relations law.  (g)  Restraining  notice  in  the  form  of  magnetic  tape  or  other electronic means. Where such  person  consents  thereto  in  writing,  a restraining  notice  in  the  form  of magnetic tape or other electronic means, as defined in subdivision (f) of rule twenty-one hundred three of this chapter, may be served upon a person other than the judgment debtor or obligor. A restraining notice in such form shall contain all  of  the information  required  to  be  specified  in  a restraining notice under subdivision (a), except for  the  original  signature  or  copy  of  the original  signature  of the clerk or attorney who issued the restraining notice. The provisions of this subdivision notwithstanding,  the  notice required  by  subdivisions  (d)  and  (e) shall be given to the judgment debtor or obligor in the written form set forth therein.  (h) Effect of  restraint  on  judgment  debtor's  banking  institution account  into  which statutorily exempt payments are made electronically or by direct deposit. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision  (b) of  this  section,  if  direct deposit or electronic payments reasonably identifiable as statutorily exempt payments as defined in paragraph  two of  subdivision  (l)  of  section fifty-two hundred five of this article  were made to the judgment debtor's account  during  the  forty-five  day period  preceding the date that the restraining notice was served on the banking institution, then the banking institution shall not restrain two thousand  five  hundred dollars in the judgment debtor's account. If the account contains an amount equal to  or  less  than  two  thousand  five hundred dollars, the account shall not be restrained and the restraining notice  shall  be  deemed  void.  Nothing  in  this subdivision shall be construed to limit  a  banking  institution's  right  or  obligation  to restrain  or  remove  such  funds  from the judgment debtor's account if required by 42 U.S.C. § 659 or 38 U.S.C. § 5301 or  by  a  court  order. Nothing  in this subdivision shall alter the exempt status of funds that are protected from execution, levy,  attachment,  garnishment  or  other legal  process,  under section fifty-two hundred five of this article or under any other provision of state or federal law, or affect  the  right of a judgment debtor to claim such exemption.  (i)  Effect  of  restraint  on  judgment  debtor's banking institution account. A restraining notice issued pursuant to this section shall  not apply  to  an  amount  equal  to or less than the greater of two hundred forty times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or two  hundred  forty  times  the  state  minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of the labor law as  in  effect at the time the earnings are payable (as published on the websites of  the  United  States  department  of  labor  and  the  state department  of  labor) except such part thereof as a court determines to be unnecessary for the reasonable requirements of  the  judgment  debtor and  his  or  her  dependents.  This  amount shall be equal to seventeen hundred sixteen dollars on the effective date of this  subdivision,  and shall rise to seventeen hundred forty dollars on July twenty-fourth, two thousand  nine,  and  shall  rise  thereafter in tandem with the minimum wage. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to limit a  banking institution's  right or obligation to restrain or remove such funds from the judgment debtor's account if required by  42  U.S.C.  §  659  or  38 U.S.C.  §  5301  or  by a court order. Where a judgment debtor's account contains an amount equal to or less than ninety percent of  the  greater of two hundred forty times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed in the  Fair  Labor  Standards  Act  of 1938 or two hundred forty times the state minimum hourly wage prescribed in section six hundred fifty-two of the labor law as in effect at the time  the  earnings  are  payable  (as published  on  the websites of the United States department of labor and the state department of labor), the account shall not be restrained  and the  restraining  notice  shall be deemed void, except as to those funds that  a  court  determines  to  be  unnecessary   for   the   reasonable requirements  of  the judgment debtor and his or her dependents. Nothing in this subdivision shall alter the exempt status  of  funds  which  are exempt  from  execution,  levy, attachment or garnishment, under section fifty-two hundred five of this article or under any other  provision  of state  or  federal  law, or the right of a judgment debtor to claim such exemption.  (j) Fee for banking institution's costs in  processing  a  restraining notice  for  an  account. In the event that a banking institution served with a restraining notice cannot lawfully restrain a  judgment  debtor's banking  institution  account,  or a restraint is placed on the judgment debtor's account in violation  of  any  section  of  this  chapter,  the banking   institution  shall  charge  no  fee  to  the  judgment  debtor regardless of any terms of agreement, or  schedule  of  fees,  or  other contract between the judgment debtor and the banking institution.  (k) The provisions of subdivisions (h), (i) and (j) of this section do not  apply  when  the  state  of  New  York,  or  any of its agencies or  municipal corporations is the judgment creditor, or if the debt enforced is for child support, spousal support, maintenance or alimony,  provided that  the restraining notice contains a legend at the top thereof, above the  caption,  in  sixteen  point bold type with the following language: "The judgment creditor is the state of New York, or any of its  agencies or  municipal  corporations,  AND/OR  the  debt  enforced  is  for child support, spousal support, maintenance or alimony.".