§ 6225.Return of property; directions to clerk and sheriff.

Once an attachment has served its purpose, or never should have tied up particular property in the first place, someone has to unwind the paperwork and hand assets back. CPLR 6225 gives the court that power on motion of any interested person, on notice to the sheriff and each party. The court can direct the county clerk to cancel a notice of attachment filed against real property, and can direct the sheriff to dispose of, account for, assign, return, or release property, debts, proceeds, or an undertaking, or to file additional inventories or returns, all subject to paying the sheriff's fees and expenses first.

Because attached property can be tied up by more than one plaintiff, or reached by other creditors' executions, the statute requires notice of the motion to go out to the plaintiffs in any other orders of attachment and to judgment creditors holding executions that affect the same property, debt, or proceeds. That way, a court releasing property in one case cannot blindside another creditor with a competing claim to the same asset.