§ 5202.Judgment creditor’s rights in personal property.
Article 52. Enforcement of Money Judgments · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceSets the priority rules between a judgment creditor who has delivered an execution or secured a turnover order and anyone who later acquires the same debt or property from the judgment debtor.
(a)Execution Creditor’s Rights. Where a judgment creditor has delivered an execution to a sheriff, the judgment creditor’s rights in a debt owed to the judgment debtor or in an interest of the judgment debtor in personal property, against which debt or property the judgment may be enforced, are superior to the extent of the amount of the execution to the rights of any transferee of the debt or property, except:
1. a transferee who acquired the debt or property for fair consideration before it was levied upon; or 2. a transferee who acquired a debt or personal property not capable of delivery for fair consideration after it was levied upon without knowledge of the levy.
(b)Other Judgment Creditor’s Rights. Where a judgment creditor has secured an order for delivery of, payment of, or appointment of a receiver of, a debt owed to the judgment debtor or an interest of the judgment debtor in personal property, the judgment creditor’s rights in the debt or property are superior to the rights of any transferee of the debt or property, except a transferee who acquired the debt or property for fair consideration and without notice of such order.
Plain-English Summary
Once a judgment creditor hands an execution to the sheriff, CPLR 5202(a) gives that creditor's claim priority, up to the amount of the execution, over anyone who takes a transfer of the same debt or property afterward. The rule protects buyers who got there first: a transferee who paid fair consideration before the levy keeps what they bought, and so does someone who paid fair consideration for property that cannot be physically delivered, such as a debt, after the levy, as long as they did not know about it.
Subdivision (b) extends the same logic to creditors who have gone further than a bare execution, those who have secured a court order for delivery, payment, or a receiver over the debtor's property. Their rights beat any later transferee's, unless that transferee paid fair value without notice of the order.
In practice, this section is what gives a levy teeth: it tells a debtor's bank, business partner, or buyer where they stand if the debtor tries to move assets after the sheriff has already stepped in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a judgment debtor tries to sell property after a sheriff has levied on it?
The judgment creditor's rights come first, up to the amount of the execution, unless the buyer paid fair value before the levy took place.
Does a good-faith buyer ever beat a judgment creditor's execution?
Yes, if the buyer paid fair consideration for the property before it was levied upon.
What protection exists for someone who buys a debt, rather than physical property, after a levy?
They keep it if they paid fair consideration and did not know about the levy at the time they acquired it.
Does CPLR 5202 apply to turnover orders, not just executions?
Yes. Subdivision (b) gives the same priority to creditors holding a court order for delivery, payment, or a receiver, over later transferees who had notice of the order.
Does CPLR 5202 define what counts as fair consideration?
No. The statute does not spell out a test for fair consideration; it sets a priority rule that turns on whether a transferee paid it before or after the levy.
Advisory Committee Notes
(See also Advisory Committee Notes preceding § 5201, under subheading “Liens and priorities generally.”).
Subd (a) of this section is intended to clarify the former law with only minor changes. When read in connection with § 273-a added to the Debtor and Creditor Law, it accords with former law except that it does not interfere with the right of a transferee for value, even if the transferee had knowledge that an execution was delivered to the sheriff, so long as a levy on the property transferred had not been made.
Subd (b) is new and is intended to avoid the confusion of the former law by stating the lien rights of a judgment creditor who enforces his judgment in ways other than by execution. It differs from former law in avoiding a lien gained simply by service of a subpoena in supplementary proceedings, by eliminating the concept of relation back of the title of a receiver, by limiting the rights in a receivership to the specific property that the receiver has been appointed to take, and by generally making uniform the rights of creditors who use procedures other than execution.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, eff Sept 1, 1963; amd, L 1963, ch 532, § 24, 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
Also known as:judgment creditor priority personal property New Yorkexecution priority transferee New YorkCPLR 5202 fair considerationsheriff levy priority New York judgment