A motion to quash, fix conditions or modify a subpoena shall be made promptly in the court in which the subpoena is returnable. If the subpoena is not returnable in a court, a request to withdraw or modify the subpoena shall first be made to the person who issued it and a motion to quash, fix conditions or modify may thereafter be made in the supreme court; except that such motion with respect to a child support subpoena issued pursuant to section one hundred eleven-p of the social services law shall be made to a judge of the family court or the supreme court. Reasonable conditions may be imposed upon the granting or denial of a motion to quash or modify.
§ 2304.Motion to quash, fix conditions or modify.
Article 23. Subpoenas, Oaths and Affirmations · Last amended 1998 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 2304 is the motion-to-quash statute: it tells a person fighting a subpoena where to bring that fight, requiring prompt action in the returnable court, or, if none exists, a request to the issuer and then a motion in supreme court.
Full Text of CPLR 2304
Plain-English Summary
Getting a subpoena you think is improper does not give you license to ignore it. CPLR 2304 gives the recipient, or anyone else with standing, a path to challenge it: a motion to quash, fix conditions on, or modify the subpoena. The section is short, but it decides a question that trips up a lot of people — which court do you go to?
If the subpoena is returnable in a court, the motion belongs there, and it must be made promptly. Waiting too long can cost a recipient the right to object at all. If the subpoena is not returnable in any court — a subpoena issued for an arbitration or an administrative proceeding, for instance — the recipient must first ask the person who issued it to withdraw or modify it. Only after that informal step can the recipient move in supreme court. Subpoenas tied to child support enforcement under Social Services Law section 111-p follow their own track: the motion goes to a judge of family court or supreme court.
The court hearing the motion is not limited to an all-or-nothing outcome. CPLR 2304 lets it impose reasonable conditions on granting or denying the motion, which is how courts narrow an overbroad document demand instead of quashing it outright, or let a subpoena stand while trimming its scope or timing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I quash a subpoena in New York?
File a motion to quash promptly in the court where the subpoena is returnable. If the subpoena is not returnable in any court, first ask the issuer to withdraw or modify it, and if that fails, move in supreme court (or, for a child support subpoena, before a judge of family court or supreme court).
How quickly must I move to quash a subpoena in New York?
CPLR 2304 requires the motion to be made promptly; it does not set a fixed number of days, but courts read that word to mean recipients cannot sit on an objection and raise it only when compliance is already due.
What court hears a motion to quash a subpoena issued in an arbitration?
Because an arbitration subpoena is not returnable in a court, the recipient must first ask the arbitrator or issuer to withdraw or modify it, and a motion to quash, fix conditions, or modify may then be brought in supreme court.
Can a court modify a subpoena instead of quashing it entirely?
Yes. CPLR 2304 allows the court to impose reasonable conditions on granting or denying a motion to quash, which lets it narrow or condition a subpoena rather than eliminate it.
Where do you challenge a child support subpoena in New York?
A motion to quash, fix conditions, or modify a child support subpoena issued under Social Services Law section 111-p must be made to a judge of the family court or the supreme court.
Advisory Committee Notes
CPA § 411 limited motions to quash to subpoenas duces tecum, while this section contains no such limitation. The grounds for the motion remain unchanged. Application to modify or vacate an administrative subpoena before the issuing agency has previously been suggested in 1 Benjamin, Administrative Adjudication in New York 161 (1942). These applications need not be in writing. Motions to quash or modify judicial subpoenas should be made in the courts where they are returnable, while like motions concerning nonjudicial subpoenas should be made in the Supreme Court. The grant or denial of such motions may be conditioned in any manner that would be just, including, but not limited to, the payment of expenses to the person subpoenaed by the person on whose behalf he is subpoenaed, as provided in rule 45 of the Federal rules of civil procedure. Cf. CPA § 411.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1; amd, L 1964, ch 388, § 8; L 1997, ch 398, § 58, eff Jan 1, 1998.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: motion to quash subpoena New Yorkhow to fight a subpoena New Yorkmodify subpoena New Yorkquash subpoena duces tecum New Yorkchild support subpoena motion to quash