Upon a special proceeding commenced by the judgment creditor, against any person who it is shown is or will become indebted to the judgment debtor, the court may require such person to pay to the judgment creditor the debt upon maturity, or so much of it as is sufficient to satisfy the judgment, and to execute and deliver any document necessary to effect payment; or it may direct that a judgment be entered against such person in favor of the judgment creditor. Costs of the proceeding shall not be awarded against a person who did not dispute the indebtedness. Notice of the proceeding shall also be served upon the judgment debtor in the same manner as a summons or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested. The court may permit the judgment debtor to intervene in the proceeding. The court may permit any adverse claimant to intervene in the proceeding and may determine his rights in accordance with section 5239.
§ 5227.Payment of debts owed to judgment debtor.
Article 52. Enforcement of Money Judgments · Last amended 1963 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceLets a judgment creditor bring a special proceeding against anyone who owes or will owe the debtor money, forcing that third party to pay the creditor directly once the debt matures, or to face a judgment entered against them instead.
Full Text of CPLR 5227
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 5227 targets a specific kind of asset: a debt someone else owes to the judgment debtor that has not been paid yet. Through a special proceeding, the creditor can require that third-party debtor to pay the judgment creditor directly, up to the amount needed to satisfy the judgment, once the debt comes due, and to sign whatever paperwork the payment requires. If that does not happen, the court can instead enter a judgment against the third party in the creditor's favor.
As with the parallel turnover proceeding in CPLR 5225, a third party who did not dispute owing the debt is not stuck paying the costs of the proceeding. The debtor has to be notified the same way as if served with a summons, and both the debtor and any other claimant to the same debt can ask to intervene, with competing claims resolved under CPLR 5239.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a creditor collect a debt someone else owes to the judgment debtor?
Yes. CPLR 5227 lets the creditor bring a special proceeding forcing that third party to pay the creditor directly once the debt matures.
What if the third-party debtor refuses to pay the creditor?
The court can enter a judgment against that third party directly in the creditor's favor instead.
Will a third party have to pay costs if they did not dispute owing the debt?
No. CPLR 5227 shields a non-disputing third party from being charged costs of the proceeding.
Does the original judgment debtor get a say in a CPLR 5227 proceeding?
Yes, they must be notified and can ask the court for permission to intervene.
What if two people both claim the same debt is owed to them?
The court can allow the competing claimant to intervene and resolve the dispute under CPLR 5239.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section is based upon CPA § 794(2) and is designed to replace §§ 687-a(6), 794(1) and 795.
The civil practice act provided judgment creditors with several methods for discovering, restraining and reaching debts due the judgment debtor from third persons. For example, a garnishee might have been required to disclose the nature and extent of an indebtedness by certificate after an execution pursuant to former § 687-a(3), by subpoena pursuant to former §§ 779(2) and 782(2), by information subpoena, if the garnishee was a financial institution, pursuant to former § 782-a, by court order, if no certificate was furnished pursuant to former § 687-a(3), and by court order in the first instance pursuant to former §§ 779(1) and 782(1). A garnishee might have been restrained from paying an indebtedness to the judgment debtor by an execution pursuant to former § 687-a(2), by subpoena pursuant to former §§ 779(2) and 781, and by court order pursuant to former §§ 779(1), 795 and 799. A garnishee might have been authorized to pay the indebtedness in satisfaction of the judgment by an execution pursuant to former § 687-a, he might have been subjected to an action on the indebtedness by the judgment creditor by court order pursuant to former §§ 687-a(6) and 795, and he might have been permitted to pay the indebtedness by a court order pursuant to subd 1 of former § 794 or required to have done so by an order pursuant to subd 2 of the same section. The “certificate” requirement of former § 687-a(3), as well as the other discovery provisions have been replaced by CPLR §§ 5223 and 5224. Similarly, the restraint provisions are consolidated by § 5222, and the provisions regarding the methods of reaching an indebtedness by court order, by this section.
Section 794(1) which provided for a court order permitting a garnishee to pay an indebtedness to the judgment creditor or a sheriff has been deleted as unnecessary. Where a garnishee is willing to pay an indebtedness, the judgment creditor may issue an execution pursuant to § 5230 for its collection as under former § 687-a or the creditor may proceed pursuant to this section. In either case, the garnishee is protected by the discharge effected by § 5209.
The sole distinction between the requirements for a permissive and a mandatory order pursuant to former § 794 was that the former might have been obtained without notice while the latter must have been on notice to both the garnishee and the judgment debtor.
In the case of a garnishee holding money or other property belonging to the judgment debtor, there was no former permissive order provision apparently because such property had long been subject to execution while debts were not made subject until the adoption of former § 687-a in 1952.
Sections 687-a(6) and 795, which provided methods by which a judgment creditor might have been authorized to bring suit against a garnishee on an indebtedness due the judgment debtor, are also replaced by this section. While the language of subd 6 of § 687-a was based upon CPA § 795 (see Law Rev Comm’n Rep 355, 364 (1952)), the provisions differed with respect to the manner in which the judgment debtor was to be given notice of the action and the manner in which a recovery in the action was to be applied to the satisfaction of the judgment. Section 795 provided that the judgment debtor be made a party defendant, while § 687-a(6) provided that “notice of the pendency of the action shall be given to the judgment debtor, in such manner as the court directs, and the judgment debtor may intervene in the action as a party.” Under § 795, any recovery was applied to the satisfaction of the judgment by the judgment creditor, but § 687-a(6) provided that “money or property recovered in the action shall be applied by the officer who made the levy toward the payment of the execution.” Apparently the sheriff was entitled to poundage upon the latter recovery, but where the garnishee failed to make a voluntary payment after judgment and enforcement procedures were instituted against him, it was unclear whether funds or property recovered by a sheriff in a different county must have been returned to the sheriff whether both sheriffs were entitled to poundage.
Since the same showing that the garnishee was indebted to the judgment debtor must have been made whether the judgment creditor sought an authorization to bring suit pursuant to §§ 687-a(6) and 795 or sought a mandatory payment order pursuant to section 794(2), there would seem to have been no reason for a judgment creditor to choose the former method where there were no issues of fact. Under this article, if the judgment creditor proceeds by execution, any dispute about the debt may be settled under the provisions of CPLR § 5239; if the creditor institutes a proceeding under this section the matter would be disposed of under the provisions of article 4.
The references to receivers in § 794(2) have been omitted in this section. They are covered by § 5228(a).
While § 794 did not explicitly provide for the application of causes of action of the judgment debtor to the satisfaction of the judgment, the courts have applied its provisions to causes of action arising out of contract to the same extent as they might have been reached under CPA § 916 which expressly made them subject to attachment. See Law Rev Comm’n Rep 383 (1952). Section 687-a provided that causes of action might have been reached by execution and § 1191 provided for their application to the satisfaction of the judgment by a judgment creditor’s action. The word “debt” in this section includes a cause of action which could be legally assigned.
Language has been added to the section to indicate that the court may direct that a judgment be entered rather than that a debt must be paid. Judgment will be the usual disposition of this proceeding, since the judgment creditor should gain no rights against a debtor of the judgment debtor better than he would have against the judgment debtor himself. The last sentence indicates that it is intended that the rights of all claimants can be determined on this proceeding. The sentence clarifies that the provision changes former law which required a plenary action to determine rights.
Amendment History
Formerly § 5226, add, L 1962, ch 308; renumbered § 5227, L 1962, ch 315, § 5; L 1963, ch 532, § 31, 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: collect debt owed to judgment debtor New Yorkspecial proceeding third party debtor New YorkCPLR 5227 turnover of debtforce third party to pay judgment creditor