Prior to the application of property or debt to the satisfaction of a judgment, any interested person may commence a special proceeding against the plaintiff to determine the rights of adverse claimants to the property or debt. Service of process in such a proceeding shall be made by serving a notice of petition upon the sheriff and upon each party in the same manner as a notice of motion. The proceeding may be commenced in the county where the property was levied upon, or in the county where the order of attachment is filed. The court may vacate or discharge the attachment, void the levy, direct the disposition of the property or debt, direct that undertakings be provided or released, or direct that damages be awarded. Where there appear to be disputed questions of fact, the court shall order a separate trial, indicating the person who shall have possession of the property pending a decision and the undertaking, if any, which such person shall give. If the court determines that the adverse claim was fraudulent, it may require the claimant to pay the plaintiff the reasonable expenses incurred in the proceeding, including reasonable attorney’s fees, and any other damages suffered by reason of the claim. The commencement of the proceeding shall not of itself subject the adverse claimant to personal jurisdiction with respect to any matter other than the claim asserted in the proceeding.
§ 6221.Proceedings to determine adverse claims.
Article 62. Attachment · Last amended 1994 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 6221 lets anyone who claims an interest in attached property, adverse to the plaintiff, bring a special proceeding to sort out competing claims before that property is applied to satisfy a judgment.
Full Text of CPLR 6221
Plain-English Summary
Attached property does not always belong, free and clear, to the defendant alone. A bank might claim a security interest, a family member might claim ownership, or another creditor might claim a competing right. CPLR 6221 gives any such interested person a vehicle for resolving those competing claims: a special proceeding against the plaintiff, commenced before the property or debt is applied to satisfy a judgment, started by serving a notice of petition on the sheriff and each party the same way a notice of motion would be served, in the county where the property was levied on or where the order of attachment is filed.
The court hearing that proceeding has wide remedial power. It can vacate or discharge the attachment, void the levy, direct how the property or debt should be disposed of, order that undertakings be provided or released, or award damages. Where the facts are disputed, the court must order a separate trial, deciding who holds the property in the meantime and what undertaking that person must give. And if the court finds the adverse claim itself was fraudulent, it can make the claimant pay the plaintiff's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, and any other damages the fraudulent claim caused. Bringing the proceeding does not, on its own, subject the claimant to the court's personal jurisdiction beyond the claim being litigated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can a bank or other creditor do if it claims an interest in attached property?
Under CPLR 6221, it can commence a special proceeding against the plaintiff, before the property is applied to a judgment, to have the court determine the competing claims.
How do you start a proceeding to determine adverse claims under CPLR 6221?
By serving a notice of petition on the sheriff and each party in the same manner as a notice of motion, in the county where the property was levied on or the order of attachment is filed.
What can a court do in a CPLR 6221 proceeding?
It can vacate or discharge the attachment, void the levy, direct disposition of the property or debt, order undertakings provided or released, or award damages.
What happens if an adverse claim under CPLR 6221 turns out to be fraudulent?
The court can require the claimant to pay the plaintiff's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, and any other damages the false claim caused.
Does filing a CPLR 6221 proceeding expose the claimant to being sued on other matters?
No. The statute limits any personal jurisdiction gained through the proceeding to the claim asserted in it.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section replaces the complex procedures of §§ 925, 926, 927 and the first and second paragraphs of subd 1 of CPA § 924. The third paragraph of former 924(1) has been eliminated. See notes to § 6215(b). The first two sentences of the fourth paragraph of former § 924(1) are also deleted; they contained provisions relating to appeal which are covered by the general appeals provisions of the new CPLR. The remaining sentence of that paragraph, containing a treble-damage penalty for false claims, is replaced by the last sentence of this section. Since the claim is supported by affidavits, there is no substantial difference between a false claim and a falsified motion for summary judgment and a special rule does not appear to be warranted. If a claim is fraudulent, the court should determine this forthwith and not require, as formerly, a separate action for treble damages. Immediate liability for damages including attorneys’ fees is a more effective remedy than the right to sue for three times problematical damages at some future date. Contempt, perjury and a separate action for damages remain as further sanctions against fraudulent claimants.
Subd 2 of former § 924, which provided for intervention in actions brought under former §§ 922 or 943, is unnecessary since those actions have been replaced by a proceeding under § 6214(d). See § 401 and notes.
This section has been drafted to give the court wide discretion. The indemnity given by the plaintiff to the sheriff, referred to in subdivision 1 of former § 924 and in §§ 925 and 926 is one of the possible undertakings covered by this section. The indemnity of former § 927, given by the claimant, is also included.
A proceeding under this section may be brought by “any interested person,” which would include junior attaching creditors; hence, the special provisions for application by such creditors in former §§ 964 and 965 are unnecessary.
The provision of former § 924(1) for trial by jury is covered by § 410, which provides for a jury trial of issues raised on a proceeding. Similarly, the five-day notice provision of former § 924(1) has been replaced by the general eight-day notice of proceeding provision of § 403(b).
Although former § 924 referred only to “personal property” and former § 927 to “goods or effects” claimed by an adverse claimant, no reason is apparent for such a limitation, and this section applies to all property which has been levied upon.
The third paragraph of former § 924(1) provided that any order in the attachment proceeding which determined title to the property under the section should not have impaired the right of any person to pursue any remedy which he might otherwise have had with respect to the property attached. That provision apparently was only intended to indicate that a claimant need not elect between the remedies available to him. Thus, under former law, he might have proceeded under § 924 and, should he have failed to regain the property, he might have sued the sheriff under former § 925 or bond and discharged the attachment under former § 927 or moved to vacate the attachment under former § 948. Indeed former § 927 contained language identical to that in the third paragraph of former § 924(1). This section, by combining the remedies of former §§ 924, 925 and 927 permits all the relief to be granted in the proceeding. The attachment may also be vacated under the new provisions or by motion under § 6223.
The second sentence of the section indicates the proper place to commence the proceeding.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308; amd, L 1977, ch 860, § 9, eff Sept 1, 1977; L 1994, ch 563, § 7, eff July 26, 1994.
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: adverse claim attached property New Yorkthird party claim to attached propertyspecial proceeding attachment New Yorkwho owns attached property dispute