If at any time following entry of judgment, a judgment debtor fails for any reason to make a payment in a timely fashion according to the terms of this article, the judgment creditor may petition the court which rendered the original judgment for an order requiring payment by the judgment debtor of the outstanding payments in a lump sum. In calculating the amount of the lump sum judgment, the court shall total the remaining periodic payments due and owing to the judgment creditor, as calculated pursuant to subdivision (e) of section five thousand thirty-one of this article, and shall not convert these amounts to their present value. The court may also require the payment of interest on the outstanding judgment.
§ 5034.Failure to make payment.
Article 50-A. Periodic Payment of Judgments in Medical and Dental Malpractice Actions · Last amended 1999 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 5034 lets a judgment creditor petition the court for a lump-sum order, without discounting to present value, when a judgment debtor misses a scheduled periodic payment under a structured malpractice judgment.
Full Text of CPLR 5034
Plain-English Summary
A structured payment schedule only works if the payments arrive on time, and CPLR 5034 gives the judgment creditor a direct remedy when they don't. If a judgment debtor at any point fails, for any reason, to make a timely payment under a periodic-installment judgment entered under this article, the creditor can petition the same court that rendered the original judgment for an order compelling payment of the outstanding installments as a lump sum.
How that lump sum gets calculated matters here. The court totals the remaining periodic payments still due, calculated using the same growth-rate methodology set out in CPLR 5031(e), but it does not discount that total to present value the way the original judgment did. That's a deliberate difference: converting to present value would effectively reward a debtor who has already defaulted by letting a missed-payment obligation shrink through discounting, so the statute has the court add up what remains owed instead.
The court also retains authority to add interest on the outstanding, unpaid judgment on top of the recalculated lump sum, giving a further disincentive against letting scheduled payments lapse.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can a judgment creditor do if a structured malpractice payment is missed?
CPLR 5034 lets the creditor petition the court that rendered the judgment for an order requiring the debtor to pay the remaining installments in a lump sum.
Is the lump sum for a missed payment discounted to present value?
No. The court totals the remaining periodic payments using the calculation method in CPLR 5031(e) but does not convert that total to its present value.
Can the court add interest when ordering a lump-sum payment after a missed installment?
Yes. CPLR 5034 states the court may also require payment of interest on the outstanding judgment.
Does it matter why the debtor missed the payment?
No. The statute applies whenever the debtor fails for any reason to make a timely payment according to the judgment's terms.
Which court hears a petition under CPLR 5034?
The petition goes to the same court that rendered the original structured judgment.
Advisory Committee Notes
The Committee recommends the amendment of CPLR 5034 and 5044 to correct what appears to have been a typographical error in both statutes’ reference to the provisions of CPLR 5031 and 5041 dealing with future periodic payments of damages in excess of $250.000.
Articles 50-A and B of the CPLR set forth the procedures to be followed when a defendant is required to pay a judgment in certain types of tort cases by means of periodic payments. Article 50-A governs the use of periodic payments in connection with medical and dental malpractice actions; Article 50-B governs the use of periodic payments in connection with personal injury, injury to property, and wrongful death actions.
There appears to be an error in CPLR 5034 and 5044, two statutes that are nearly identical and that deal with the penalty imposed upon a defendant who fails to make a periodic payment in the cases mentioned above. Both statutes provide that upon defendants failure to pay, the judgment creditor may petition the court for an order “requiring payment by the judgment debtor of the outstanding payments in a lump sum.” The statutes provide that in calculating the amount of the lump sum judgment, the court shall total the remaining periodic payments due, as calculated pursuant to subdivision (b) of sections 5031 and 5041, and shall not convert those payments to their present value. The court may also require the payment of interest on the outstanding judgment.
Subdivision (b) of sections 5031 and 5041 is not the section that deals with future periodic payments, but rather deals with the payment of past damages in a lump sum. It would seem that the drafters intended to refer to subdivision (e) of sections 5031 and 5041, since that subdivision deals with future periodic payments. The Committee therefore recommends that this technical error be corrected by substituting subdivision “e” for “b” in both sections 5034 and 5044.
Amendment History
Add, L 1985, ch 294, § 9; amd, L 1999, ch 446, § 1, eff Aug 31, 1999.
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: missed structured settlement payment New Yorklump sum after default malpractice judgment NYfailure to make periodic payment CPLRenforcing structured malpractice judgment New York