You won your case. The court entered a judgment in your favor. Now you’re waiting for the debtor to pay, and they’re not paying. The judgment doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and the court that entered it isn’t going to collect it for you. The gap between having a judgment and having the money it represents is where most creditors get stuck, and it’s where Warner & Scheuerman’s judgment collection practice begins. The first two enforcement tools available to every New York judgment creditor are the information subpoena and the restraining notice, both authorized under CPLR Article 52. These aren’t advanced litigation tactics. They’re the foundation that every subsequent enforcement step is built on, and understanding how they work is the starting point for any serious collection effort.
The Information Subpoena: Finding Out What the Debtor Has
An information subpoena under CPLR 5224 is a court-authorized demand for information about the debtor’s financial situation. It can be served on the judgment debtor directly or on third parties who have information about the debtor’s assets, income, or financial dealings. Banks, employers, brokerage firms, business partners, and anyone else who may hold or owe money to the debtor can be served with an information subpoena.
The subpoena to the debtor typically accompanies a set of written questions (interrogatories) that require the debtor to disclose their bank accounts, real property, vehicles, business interests, sources of income, and any transfers of assets made within a specified period. The debtor must respond under oath within seven days of service. The responses are sworn statements, and a debtor who lies in their responses is committing perjury.
Third-party subpoenas are often more productive than debtor subpoenas because the third party has no incentive to conceal the debtor’s assets. A bank served with an information subpoena will disclose the debtor’s account balances. An employer will confirm wages and salary information. A brokerage firm will identify investment accounts. The third party is legally obligated to respond, and their response provides reliable information that the debtor might not have volunteered.
The information subpoena is not a one-time tool. It can be served repeatedly as circumstances change. A debtor who had no bank account last year may have opened one this year. A debtor who was unemployed six months ago may have started a new job. Periodic subpoenas to banks and other likely asset holders keep the creditor’s information current and catch changes in the debtor’s financial situation that create new collection opportunities.
What Happens When the Debtor Doesn’t Respond
A debtor who ignores an information subpoena or refuses to answer can be held in contempt of court under Judiciary Law Section 753. The creditor files a motion for contempt, and if the court finds that the debtor willfully failed to comply, the court can impose fines and, in some cases, incarceration until the debtor complies. The contempt power transforms the information subpoena from a request into a court-enforced demand.
In practice, many debtors ignore the first subpoena, either because they don’t understand the legal obligation or because they’re hoping the creditor will give up. The contempt motion is what changes their calculation. A debtor who faces potential sanctions for noncompliance tends to respond, and the response itself frequently reveals assets the creditor didn’t know existed.
Warner & Scheuerman’s experience with information subpoenas goes beyond simply mailing the form and waiting. The firm’s investigators know which questions to ask, which third parties to subpoena, and how to cross-reference the debtor’s responses against publicly available records to identify inconsistencies. A debtor who claims to have no bank accounts but owns a business that processes credit card transactions has money flowing somewhere. The subpoena responses, combined with investigative analysis, reveal where.
The Restraining Notice: Freezing Assets in Place
A restraining notice under CPLR 5222 is the tool that prevents the debtor from moving assets while the creditor works to collect them. The restraining notice can be served on the debtor directly or on any third party that holds the debtor’s property. Once served, the recipient is prohibited from transferring, paying, or otherwise disposing of the debtor’s assets up to twice the amount of the outstanding judgment.
The most common use of a restraining notice is freezing a bank account. When the creditor identifies a bank account through an information subpoena or investigation, a restraining notice served on the bank prevents the debtor from withdrawing or transferring funds from that account. The money stays in place until the creditor can levy the account through a formal execution or until the court orders otherwise.
Restraining notices can also be served on employers (to prevent bonus payments or severance beyond what’s subject to income execution), business partners (to prevent distribution of partnership income), and any other person or entity holding the debtor’s property. The reach of the restraining notice extends to any asset that the third party holds for or owes to the debtor.
The Restraining Notice’s Legal Force
A third party who violates a restraining notice by releasing the debtor’s funds becomes personally liable to the judgment creditor for the amount released, up to the amount of the judgment. This liability creates a powerful compliance incentive. A bank that releases $50,000 from a restrained account after being served with a valid restraining notice can be sued by the creditor for that $50,000. Banks and other institutional third parties take restraining notices seriously because the legal consequence of noncompliance falls directly on them.
The debtor can challenge a restraining notice by moving to vacate it, but the grounds for vacatur are limited. The debtor must show that the notice was improperly served, that the restrained funds are exempt from execution, or that the notice is overbroad. Exempt funds include certain government benefits, Social Security payments, and other income protected by federal or state law. New York banks are required to review restrained accounts for exempt funds and to release amounts that are clearly protected.
The debtor cannot simply ignore the restraining notice and move the money. A debtor who transfers funds from a restrained account is in contempt of the notice, and the creditor can seek sanctions and a money judgment for the transferred amount. The restraining notice turns what was previously an accessible asset into a frozen one, and the debtor’s only options are to comply, challenge the notice through proper legal channels, or face contempt proceedings.
How the Two Tools Work Together
Information subpoenas and restraining notices are designed to function as a coordinated sequence. The subpoena identifies the assets. The restraining notice freezes them. Everything that follows, bank levies, income executions, turnover proceedings, and property liens, builds on what these two tools produce.
The typical enforcement sequence in a Warner & Scheuerman judgment collection case starts with serving information subpoenas on the debtor and on likely third parties (banks where the debtor is known or suspected to have accounts, the debtor’s employer if known, and any identified business entities). As the responses come in and the investigative team analyzes them, restraining notices are served on any account or asset that’s been identified. This locks the assets in place while the formal enforcement proceedings are prepared.
The speed of this sequence matters. A debtor who learns that a creditor is actively pursuing collection may attempt to empty bank accounts, liquidate investments, or transfer assets. Serving the restraining notice quickly after identifying the asset prevents that dissipation. Warner & Scheuerman’s integrated investigative and legal teams are structured to compress the gap between discovery and restraint, moving from identification to freezing in the shortest possible timeframe.
Why Most Creditors Don’t Use These Tools Effectively
The forms for information subpoenas and restraining notices are publicly available. Any judgment creditor can technically serve them without an attorney. The reason most creditors fail to collect isn’t that the tools don’t exist. It’s that using them effectively requires knowing who to subpoena, what questions to ask, how to analyze the responses, and when to serve restraining notices to maximize the chance of catching assets before they move.
A creditor who serves a generic information subpoena on the debtor and waits for a response is playing the debtor’s game. The debtor will delay, provide incomplete answers, or claim to have nothing. A creditor who simultaneously serves subpoenas on ten banks, the debtor’s known employer, the debtor’s business entities, and any identified brokerage firms while also filing judgment liens in every county where the debtor might own property is playing a different game entirely. The debtor can’t delay responses from third parties who have their own legal obligations. The debtor can’t hide assets that third parties have already disclosed.
That comprehensive, simultaneous approach is what distinguishes Warner & Scheuerman’s enforcement practice from a creditor trying to handle collection alone or through a general practice attorney who uses these tools occasionally rather than daily.
Start the Collection Process with Warner & Scheuerman
If you’re holding a New York judgment and the debtor hasn’t paid, the enforcement process starts with information subpoenas and restraining notices. These are the tools that identify what the debtor has and prevent them from moving it while you pursue collection. Everything else in the enforcement arsenal, from bank levies to turnover proceedings to property executions, depends on the information and asset preservation these tools provide.
