§ 6203.Attaching creditor’s rights in personal property.

An attachment does more than freeze property; it gives the plaintiff a claim on that property that outranks people who later acquire an interest in it. Under CPLR 6203, once the plaintiff delivers the order of attachment to the sheriff, the plaintiff's rights in the defendant's debt or personal property become superior, up to the amount of the attachment, to the rights of anyone the defendant later transfers that debt or property to.

Two exceptions protect innocent transferees. A transferee who acquired the debt or property before it was levied upon, for fair consideration or without knowledge of the attachment order, keeps priority over the plaintiff. So does a transferee who acquired it after levy, for fair consideration and without knowledge of the levy, so long as the sheriff had not yet taken possession. The two exceptions are not identical: the pre-levy exception needs only one of those two things, fair consideration or lack of knowledge, while the post-levy exception demands both, plus that the sheriff had not yet taken possession. A pre-levy transferee who knew about the order can still prevail by showing fair consideration, but a post-levy transferee loses the shelter if either element is missing.