What property can a New York judgment creditor not take?

This page explains New York law. The statutes still print the dollar amounts set when they were written, but the CPLR directs the Department of Financial Services to adjust them every three years for inflation (CPLR 5205(l)(3)). The amounts below are the department's current figures, which apply to restraining notices served and executions carried out on or after April 1, 2024; the next adjustment is scheduled for April 1, 2027. For the bigger picture of what a creditor can do, see what happens after a money judgment is entered against you in New York. For how KOR Law LLP handles these matters, see our post-judgment defense page.

An exemption is a category of property the law shields from being used to pay a money judgment. A few work on their own, but most must be claimed by the debtor and backed with proof.

Which items have a dollar limit?

What is protected with no dollar cap?

CPLR 5205(a) also exempts, without a dollar limit: stoves and home heating equipment with 120 days of fuel; a sewing machine; religious texts, family pictures and school books; a seat or pew in a place of worship; 120 days of necessary food; all clothing and household furniture; one refrigerator, one radio, one television, one computer with its equipment and one cellphone; crockery, tableware and cooking utensils; prescribed health aids; and a wedding ring. Other subdivisions add money deposited as a security deposit for the debtor's home or utilities (5205(g)), medical devices, mobility equipment and service animals (5205(h)), certain military pay and awards (5205(e)), and the right to accelerate a life insurance death benefit (5205(i)).

One more is easy to miss: a claim for damages against someone who took or injured exempt property is itself exempt, and a judgment won on that claim stays exempt for one year after it is collected (CPLR 5205(b)).

Are retirement accounts and wages protected?

Qualified retirement assets, including IRAs and Roth IRAs, 401(k) and similar plans, Keogh plans and 457 plans, are treated as trusts created by someone other than the debtor and are exempt (CPLR 5205(c)). There are two exceptions to watch: contributions made within 90 days before the claim behind the judgment was asserted, and contributions that are voidable transactions under the Debtor and Creditor Law, are not exempt (CPLR 5205(c)(5)). Ninety percent of income paid from an exempt trust is exempt, except what the court finds unnecessary for the reasonable needs of the debtor and dependents (CPLR 5205(d)(1)). For payments from the retirement plans listed above, the statute goes further: the 90% becomes 100%, and the court's reasonable-needs exception does not apply.

For wages, 90% of the debtor's earnings for personal services within 60 days before, and at any time after, an income execution is delivered to the sheriff or a motion is made to reach the earnings, is exempt (CPLR 5205(d)(2)). An income execution itself is capped: installments of no more than 10% of income, never more than 25% of disposable earnings in a week, and nothing at all from a week's disposable earnings below thirty times the higher of the federal or state minimum hourly wage (CPLR 5231(b)). No amount may be taken under an income execution on a medical debt judgment brought by a licensed hospital or health care professional.

How are benefits in a bank account protected?

The exemption notice that must accompany any restraint on a natural person's bank account lists the kinds of money that cannot be taken, including Social Security, SSD and SSI, public assistance, veterans benefits, unemployment insurance, pensions and retirement payments, disability benefits, workers' compensation, child support, spousal support, railroad retirement, black lung benefits, COVID-19 stimulus payments, and 90% of income earned in the last 60 days (CPLR 5222-a(b)(4)). If any exempt payment was deposited electronically in the 45 days before the restraint, the protected amount in the table cannot be restrained at all, and a separate floor tied to the minimum wage protects part of every account balance (CPLR 5205(l), 5222(h) and (i)).

That second floor is 240 times the higher of the federal or state minimum hourly wage; if the whole balance is at or below 90% of that figure, the restraint is void (CPLR 5222(i)). The same is true when exempt payments arrived by direct deposit in the last 45 days and the balance is no more than the protected amount (CPLR 5222(h)). The rest of the bank process, from the freeze itself to getting the judgment vacated, is on our page about what to do when a restraining notice freezes your bank account.

How do you claim an exemption for a frozen bank account?

A creditor restraining a natural person's bank account must give the bank an exemption notice and two exemption claim forms along with the restraining notice. If it does not, the restraint is void and the bank must not freeze the account (CPLR 5222-a(b)(1)). The same rule applies when a sheriff levies on the account under an execution (CPLR 5222-a(b)(2)). From there, the statute sets each step:

At a hearing, the signed claim form is prima facie evidence (enough on its own unless disproved) that the money is exempt, and the creditor must prove how much is not (CPLR 5222-a(d)). A creditor that fails to release money after receiving that proof is deemed to have acted in bad faith, and the debtor may ask the court for costs, reasonable attorney fees, actual damages and up to $1,000 (CPLR 5222-a(c)(4), (g)).

How do you claim an exemption for other property?

• Other property. Raise the exemption in response to the enforcement step, such as a turnover petition, or ask the court for a protective order under CPLR 5240, which lets the court deny, limit or condition any enforcement procedure; see whether a court can limit or stop a creditor's collection efforts.
• Property a sheriff has levied on. Before the sheriff applies property to the judgment, any interested person can start a special proceeding to decide rights in it, and the court can void the levy (CPLR 5239).
• Late claims. Missing the 20 days on the bank form does not waive the exemption itself (CPLR 5222-a(c)(5)), but it lets the restraint stay in place until you act another way.

The limits in the table are value limits, so for a car or tools of a trade, what the item is worth and any loan against it matter. Our page on property executions and sheriff sales explains how a levy on belongings works. The homestead exemption raises its own questions for co-op and condominium owners, covered in whether New York's homestead exemption protects a co-op apartment from a judgment creditor. When a creditor goes to court for property, the exemption can come up in a turnover proceeding.

What changes the answer for your exemptions?

• Who the creditor is. If the creditor is the state, a state agency or a municipality, or the debt is for child support, spousal support, maintenance or alimony, the bank account protections and the claim form procedure do not apply, if the notice says so in a 16-point bold legend (CPLR 5205(o), 5222-a(i)). The vehicle exemption also falls away for those creditors and for equitable distribution (CPLR 5205(a)(8)).
• What the judgment was for. The personal property exemptions do not apply to a judgment for the purchase price of the exempt item, or to one recovered by a domestic, laboring person or mechanic for their work (CPLR 5205(a)). The homestead gives no protection against a judgment recovered wholly for the purchase price of the home, or against a sale for unpaid taxes or assessments (CPLR 5206(a)).
• Whether you claim a homestead. The catch-all for personal property, a bank account or cash is available only if no homestead exemption is claimed (CPLR 5205(a)(9)).
• When retirement money went in. Recent or voidable contributions lose the exemption (CPLR 5205(c)(5)). Claims that a transfer was made to dodge creditors belong to our debtor and creditor representation work.
• The court's reasonable-needs review. For trust income (other than retirement plan payments), wages, support payments and medical and mobility equipment, the court can find part of the money or property "unnecessary" for the reasonable requirements of the debtor and dependents and let the creditor reach it (CPLR 5205(d), (h)).

For example: a frozen account that holds only Social Security

Common mistakes when claiming exemptions

• Counting from the wrong day. The 20 days run from the postmark on the bank's envelope, not from when you opened it.
• Sending the form to only one place. One signed form goes to the bank and the other to the creditor's attorney, or to the creditor if it has no attorney (CPLR 5222-a(c)(1)).
• Leaving out the proof. The creditor's seven-day duty to release starts only when proof, such as award letters or two months of bank records, comes with the form.
• Assuming the car or tools are fully protected. Those exemptions stop at a set value, and the vehicle exemption does not apply against support or government creditors.
• Adding to a retirement account once a dispute starts. Contributions made within 90 days before the claim was asserted are not exempt.

What to do this week

1. Find the envelope the exemption notice came in, write down the postmark date, and count 20 days from it.
2. Print two months of statements and the award letters or pay stubs that show where each deposit came from.
3. Complete and sign both claim forms, send one to the bank and one to the creditor's attorney, and keep a copy with proof of mailing.
4. Check the top of the restraining notice or execution for the 16-point legend that marks a government or support creditor.
5. Write down your car's value and loan balance, and how the title to your home is held.
6. Gather the papers on our checklist for when a judgment is enforced and arrange to speak with a lawyer about anything the forms do not cover.

Frequently asked questions

Are exemptions automatic?

Some are. A bank must leave the protected balance untouched when exempt payments were directly deposited in the last 45 days, and must leave the minimum-wage floor alone in every account (CPLR 5222(h), (i)). Everything else has to be claimed by the debtor, on the bank forms or in court.

Can a creditor take a tax refund or stimulus payment?

Payments under the federal pandemic relief laws named in CPLR 5205(p), including recovery rebates and certain refundable tax credits and their advances, are exempt. The exemption covers payments under those laws only, so it is not a general protection for every tax refund. It also does not apply against support or maintenance debts.

What if I never knew about the lawsuit?

The exemption notice itself says you may be able to vacate the judgment, and that a vacated judgment releases the account (CPLR 5222-a(b)(4)). Vacating is a separate step, so file the exemption claim within the 20 days as well. We explain the grounds in whether you can undo a default judgment in New York.

Does it help that my spouse co-owns our home?

It can. A home deeded to a married couple is held as tenants by the entirety unless the deed says otherwise (EPTL 6-2.2(b)), and a creditor of only one spouse faces limits that are separate from the homestead exemption. See whether a creditor of one spouse can force the sale of a home owned as tenants by the entirety.

Is the law different in New York City?

The exemptions are the same statewide, except the homestead limit, which is highest in the five boroughs and the nearby counties listed in the table. Collection steps in the city follow the same CPLR rules described above. For Brooklyn cases, see foreclosure and judgment defense for Brooklyn (Kings County) cases.

How long can a creditor keep trying to collect?

A money judgment is presumed paid 20 years after the creditor could first enforce it, but a signed written acknowledgment or a payment restarts that period, and property taken by a levy counts as a payment (CPLR 211(b)). See how long a New York judgment lasts.