The court, upon motion without notice, shall order service of a summons by publication in an action described in section 314 if service cannot be made by another prescribed method with due diligence.
§ 315.Service by publication authorized.
Article 3. Jurisdiction and Service, Appearance and Choice of Court · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 315 authorizes a court, on an ex parte motion, to order service of a summons by publication in a section 314 action, but only when the plaintiff can't achieve service by another prescribed method despite due diligence.
Full Text of CPLR 315
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 315 is the gatekeeper for service by publication. It permits a court to order that method only in the kinds of actions covered by section 314 -- matrimonial actions, actions affecting an interest in New York property, and attachment-based actions -- and only after the plaintiff has tried, with due diligence, to serve the defendant by some other method the law allows.
The plaintiff seeks this order on a motion without notice, since the whole point is that the defendant's whereabouts are unknown or the defendant can't be reached by the state's other service methods. The court doesn't grant publication as a matter of course; it requires a showing that due diligence turned up no better way to reach the defendant.
Publication is the method least likely to reach a defendant who has no idea a lawsuit exists, so the statute confines it to cases where the court already has some independent hold on the controversy -- the marital status, the property, or the attached asset -- rather than letting it substitute for actual notice in an ordinary money-judgment case.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can a plaintiff serve a defendant by publication in New York?
Only in matrimonial, property, and attachment-based actions covered by CPLR 314, and only after showing due diligence failed to turn up another way to serve the defendant.
Do I need a court order to publish a summons?
Yes. CPLR 315 requires a motion, made without notice to the defendant, asking the court to order service by publication.
Why is service by publication so restricted?
Publication rarely gives a defendant actual notice of a lawsuit, so the legislature limited it to cases already resting on some other basis for the court's power, such as property located in New York.
Can I use publication in an ordinary breach-of-contract case for money damages?
No, unless the action also falls within one of the categories in CPLR 314 -- publication service isn't available for a plain in personam money claim outside those categories.
What happens after the court grants a publication order?
CPLR 316 sets out how the publication must be carried out -- the newspapers, the number of weeks, and when service is deemed complete.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section is designed to discourage service by publication, since it is not a method of service calculated to give actual notice. The other provisions for service within and without the state make service by publication unnecessary except where a defendant’s whereabouts are unknown and he has no fixed location within the state. Service by publication has been limited to the classes of action described in CPLR § 314. There is doubt about whether a person who, for example, did an act in New York giving the state a basis for personal jurisdiction, would actually receive notice of service were it solely by publication. In an in rem or quasi in rem action in which publication has traditionally been used, notice is usually obtained because defendant’s property is affected.
This section is designed to make it clear that neither § 302 nor any similar provision which deals with acquisition of jurisdiction in particular situations supersedes or operates as a limitation upon acquisition of jurisdiction over persons, property or status as previously permitted by law and judicial decision. Thus, personal jurisdiction may still be acquired over a foreign corporation “doing business” in New York in accordance with present case law or over a natural person as formerly acquired under § 229-b of the CPA. If a corporation which has submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the New York courts by acts performed within the state, as provided in § 302, is sued on a cause of action that did not arise from any of the acts, it would be necessary to determine from prior law whether there is personal jurisdiction because § 302 limits the jurisdiction acquired under it to a cause of action arising from the performance of the acts. In Tauza v Susquehanna Coal Co. 220 NY 259, 115 NE 915 (1917), jurisdiction over a foreign corporation was sustained even though the cause of action sued upon did not originate in the business transacted in New York, because the corporation was “doing business” in New York.
There has been no attempt to restate the principles of jurisdiction in the former law. Omitted from the article are CPA §§ 483 and 520 providing that where jurisdiction over the person is not obtained but the court’s power to act is predicated on jurisdiction quasi in rem, the judgment can only be enforced against attached property. These sections restate only one of the fundamentals of jurisdiction and are unnecessary since the same result is required by procedural and substantive due process principles enforceable under both Federal and state constitutions. Provisions such as § 59-a of the Insurance Law and § 52 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law will continue in force.
In a situation where personal jurisdiction over a defendant rests solely upon § 302, an amendment or supplementation of a pleading to assert other causes of action not within § 302 would not be permissible even though the defendant defends the action on the merits. But where there is another basis for personal jurisdiction, as where a foreign corporation can be found to be “doing business” within the state, the pleadings may be amended or supplemented without regard to the limitations of § 302.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1963.
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
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