This page explains New York law. A judgment lien can surface in the title search for a sale or a new loan, sometimes years after the judgment was entered. KOR Law LLP's post-judgment practice handles judgment liens as part of its work for judgment debtors and property owners.
Where is a judgment lien recorded, and how do you find it?
The clerk dockets a money judgment as soon as the judgment-roll is filed, in the county where it was entered. To reach real property in another county, the creditor files a transcript of the docket with that county's clerk, and the transcript has the same effect as a Supreme Court judgment entered there. A federal judgment rendered or filed in New York can be docketed with any county clerk the same way (CPLR 5018(a), (b)). So the search is county by county. A Civil Court judgment, in particular, becomes a lien on real property only once a transcript is filed with the county clerk (NY Courts CourtHelp, Transcript of Judgment).
Each docket entry lists, under the debtor's surname, the debtor's name and last known address, the creditor, the amount, the dates the judgment-roll was filed and the judgment was docketed, the court and county, and the creditor's attorney (CPLR 5018(c)). Those details are how you tell whether a judgment in a title report is really yours.
In Brooklyn, for example, the Kings County Clerk handles money judgment searches and satisfactions at Window 10 in Room 189, 360 Adams Street, and issues a "Find on File" or "Fail to Find" certificate for a search; its page notes that a certified copy of a judgment is not required to clear your credit. Deeds and mortgages are a different set of records: for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, they can be searched from 1966 to the present in ACRIS, the city Department of Finance's property records system. The Brooklyn clerk's other windows are listed on our page for foreclosure and judgment defense in Brooklyn (Kings County).
How long does the lien last, and can it be extended?
| Event | Effect | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Judgment docketed in the county | Lien from docketing until ten years after the judgment-roll was filed | CPLR 5203(a) |
| Creditor was stayed, or a sheriff's sale under an execution delivered within the ten years is still under way | Court may extend the lien for the time of the stay or the time needed to finish the sale, on notice to the debtor | CPLR 5203(b) |
| Creditor sues on the judgment in the year before the ten years end | A renewal judgment, whose lien starts when the original ten years expire | CPLR 5014 |
| Ten years have passed without an extension or renewal | The sheriff can still levy by filing a notice of levy with the county clerk; it binds the property until the execution is returned | CPLR 5235, 5203(a) |
The end of the real property lien is not the end of the judgment itself. The separate 20-year presumption of payment and the interest the judgment keeps adding are explained in how long a New York judgment lasts.
How does a sale or refinance get past a judgment, step by step?
- Read the docket entry. Match the name, address and dates against your own (CPLR 5018(c)). If it is not your judgment, a clerk's search certificate records what a search of your name found.
- Check the dates. Count ten years from the filing of the judgment-roll, then look for a renewal judgment, an extension order or a notice of levy filed since (CPLR 5014, 5203(b), 5235).
- Check what the lien reaches. The exceptions in CPLR 5203(a), the homestead exemption in CPLR 5206 and the way title is held can each narrow it.
- Resolve the judgment. Pay it, ask the court for relief, or challenge the judgment itself if it should not have been entered.
- Clear the record. The creditor files a satisfaction-piece, with a clerk's certificate in every other county where the judgment was docketed, and the clerk enters satisfaction on the docket (CPLR 5020, 5021).
What does the lien not reach?
The lien attaches only to the judgment debtor's own interest in the property. CPLR 5203(a) also lists situations where a later transfer still beats the judgment creditor, including a transfer in satisfaction of a mortgage that secured the purchase price of the debtor's interest, a sale to a purchaser for value at a judicial or execution sale, and a judgment entered after the debtor's death.
If the property is the debtor's homestead, the exemption covers equity up to the county amount ($204,825 in the five New York City counties, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Putnam, under the current Department of Financial Services figures), and the judgment lien attaches only to the surplus above it (CPLR 5206(a), (d)). A creditor who wants a homestead worth more than the exempt amount sold must bring a special proceeding in the county where it is located (CPLR 5206(e)); the steps are in what a sheriff can seize under a property execution and how real property is sold.
How is the lien cleared when the judgment is paid?
When the creditor receives payment in full or in part, it must execute and file a satisfaction-piece or partial satisfaction-piece with the clerk, acknowledged like a deed, and mail a copy to the debtor within ten days after filing (CPLR 5020(a)). Within ten years after entry, the creditor's attorney of record may sign it (CPLR 5020(b)). If the judgment was docketed in other counties by transcript, the creditor must also file a certificate of the original county clerk with each of those clerks (CPLR 5020(d)). A creditor that fails to file within 20 days after full payment faces a penalty the debtor can recover: $100 for a judgment under $5,000, and $500 for one of $5,000 or more (CPLR 5020(c)).
If a satisfaction-piece cannot be obtained, the clerk can also enter satisfaction in two other ways (CPLR 5021(a)):
- by court order on motion, where the judgment has been paid but the debtor cannot produce a satisfaction-piece; or
- by deposit with the clerk of money that satisfies the judgment, under a court order permitting the deposit, which the court will not make while executions with unpaid sheriff's fees are outstanding.
A sheriff who collects on an execution returns it to the clerk, who enters the satisfaction on the docket (CPLR 5021(b)). A paid-off mortgage that still shows of record is a different problem with its own statute; see what to do when a paid-off mortgage was never marked satisfied.
What changes the answer for your property?
- The county. The lien binds real property only in a county where the judgment is docketed, directly or by transcript (CPLR 5203(a), 5018(a)).
- The age of the judgment. Past ten years from the filing of the judgment-roll, the lien is gone unless a renewal judgment, an extension order or a notice of levy keeps the property bound (CPLR 5014, 5203(b), 5235).
- A purchase-money mortgage. A transfer in satisfaction of a mortgage that secured the purchase price of the debtor's interest is effective against the creditor (CPLR 5203(a)(2)).
- Whether you live there. A principal residence carries the homestead exemption, and the lien attaches only to the surplus (CPLR 5206(a), (d)). Co-op owners can read whether the homestead exemption protects a co-op apartment.
- How title is held. A deed to a married couple creates a tenancy by the entirety unless it says otherwise (EPTL 6-2.2(b)), and what a creditor of one spouse can reach is limited; see tenancy by the entirety and creditors of one spouse.
- A pending appeal. If the debtor has given an undertaking on appeal that is enough to secure the creditor, the court may release the lien as to all or specified property, on motion with notice to the creditor, the sheriff and the sureties (CPLR 5204).
- A judgment that should not exist. If the judgment was entered by default and there are grounds to vacate it, removing the judgment removes the lien (CPLR 5015(a)); see whether you can undo a default judgment in New York.
For example: a sale held up by two old judgments
For example, imagine an owner selling a Brooklyn row house in October 2026 whose buyer's title report shows two money judgments. (This is a made-up illustration, not a real client or result.) The first is a Supreme Court judgment docketed in Kings County in 2014. Ten years from the filing of its judgment-roll ended in 2024, and a search shows no renewal judgment, no extension order and no notice of levy, so the lien has expired, although the judgment itself is not presumed paid until 2034 at the earliest.
The second is a 2021 Civil Court judgment that became a lien on the house when the creditor filed a transcript with the Kings County Clerk, so it binds the property until 2031. The owner does not live in the house, so no homestead exemption applies. She pays the judgment, and the creditor files a satisfaction-piece with the clerk and mails her a copy. Had the creditor refused, she could have asked the court to order the clerk to enter satisfaction, or to permit a deposit with the clerk (CPLR 5021(a)).
Common mistakes with judgment liens
- Searching only ACRIS. ACRIS holds recorded deeds and mortgages; docketed money judgments are searched at the county clerk.
- Assuming an old lien is dead. Check for a renewal judgment, an extension order and a notice of levy before treating a ten-year-old judgment as gone (CPLR 5014, 5203(b), 5235).
- Deeding the property to a relative. A transfer after docketing is not effective against the judgment creditor (CPLR 5203(a)), and a transferee can face a turnover proceeding for money or property received from the debtor (CPLR 5225(b)).
- Paying without a satisfaction-piece. Payment alone does not change the docket; the satisfaction-piece does (CPLR 5020(a), 5021(a)).
- Forgetting other counties. A judgment docketed by transcript elsewhere needs a clerk's certificate filed in each county (CPLR 5020(d)).
- Overlooking the homestead. On a principal residence, the lien reaches only the equity above the exempt amount (CPLR 5206(d)).
What to do this week
- Get the title report and the docket entry for each judgment it lists.
- Check each entry's name, address and dates against your own, and order a clerk's search if a judgment is not yours.
- Count ten years from each judgment-roll filing and look for any renewal, extension or notice of levy.
- Note whether the property is your principal residence and how the deed holds title.
- Ask the creditor or its attorney for a written statement of the amount it claims, and compare the interest rate with CPLR 5004.
- Pull the judgment, the docket entries and the closing documents together with what to gather when a creditor starts enforcing a judgment, and speak with a lawyer before the closing date.
Frequently asked questions
Does the lien follow the property to the buyer?
A transfer made after docketing is not effective against the judgment creditor while the lien lasts (CPLR 5203(a)). That is what makes a docketed judgment show up in a buyer's or lender's title search.
Does a judgment lien reach property I buy later?
The court system's guide says a docketed judgment becomes a lien on the debtor's land or land he or she buys in that county. The ten-year limit still runs from the filing of the judgment-roll (CPLR 5203(a)).
What if the creditor will not sign a satisfaction after I pay?
The creditor faces a statutory penalty if it does not file within 20 days after full payment (CPLR 5020(c)). You can also move for a court order directing the clerk to enter satisfaction (CPLR 5021(a)(2)).
What happens to sale money if a court orders my homestead sold?
The court divides the proceeds according to each person's interest. Money up to the exempt amount paid to the debtor is exempt for one year; if the debtor buys a new homestead within that year, the exemption ends for any of that money not spent on it (CPLR 5206(e)).
What if the title search also turns up an old mortgage or a disputed deed?
Clouds on title that are not judgments may need a quiet title action, a lawsuit asking the court to decide competing claims to the property (RPAPL 1501(1)).
Can a creditor force a sale instead of waiting for mine?
A creditor can have the sheriff sell the debtor's non-exempt interest under an execution, at a public auction between the 56th and 63rd day after the notice of sale is first published (CPLR 5236(a)). For a homestead above the exempt amount, a special proceeding is required first (CPLR 5206(e)). The wider set of collection tools is in what happens after a money judgment is entered against you.