QUESTION
I was awarded a judgement of $5000 in small claims court. I have been unable to collect. Is there a legal motion for sued party to show assets
Asked on Aug 17th, 2012 on Breach of Contract - New York
More details to this question:
I know the first step is to prove assets of the party I sued. I have taken several steps to work to collect this judgement thus far. I sent supenas to surrounding banks of my contractor''s business. With no luck, I went to a collection agency They seemed seemed to do no more than send letters out with no results. My sister is an attorney in chicago and advised that there is a motion where by the liable party must show assets so that I can collect the judgement awarded in my favor. Can you advise if this is valid in New York and how I would go about this?
1 ANSWER
In New York, proceedings to collect judgments are called supplementary proceedings. There are supplementary proceedings available by which you can subpoena the judgment debtor to be deposed about his/her/its assets, or to answer written questions about them. In fact, there are forms available (from Blumberg and other sources) with comprehensive lists of questions for the debtor to answer.
Also, since your judgment is from the small claims court, I don't believe that it is automatically docketed in the County Clerk, as a Supreme Court judgment would be. You should do that (the clerk will tell you how), and you may want to docket the judgment in several counties. Your judgment will then show up as a public record which the debtor will be more motivated to clear up, and will also automatically become a lien against any real property which the debtor owns in any County where the judgment is docketed.
Answered on Aug 23rd, 2012 at 10:30 AM