Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York

restraining order priority

Does a restraining order give that creditor priority, or can another sheriff, for another judgement, come in and take the money by serving actual levy or turnover order?


Asked on 2/08/05, 2:11 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Andrew Nitzberg Andrew Nitzberg & Associates

Re: restraining order priority

This is a question concerning 'priority of claims'. Your question indicates that you are familiar with the vocabulary.

The restraining order establishes that no one can take the property without showing to a court that he has a higher priority (a better right to the property) than the other creditor.

The restraining order can be defeated by a creditor with a higher priority.

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Answered on 2/08/05, 2:19 pm
Kevin Connolly Kevin J. Connolly

Re: restraining order priority

For levies on personal property, the priorities are #1 Child Support. If the executions that have the priority battle were issued to the same officer (i.e., sheriff in Supreme or County Court or docketed lower court judgments and marshall for undocketed lower court judgments) they rank in the order that they were delivered to the officer. If executions are issued to two different officers (e.g., marshall of the City of New York for a civil court judgment and sheriff of NY County for a Supreme Court judgment) first priority goes to the execution delivered first to the first officer who levies, and then in the order of demands made upon the officer who first levied. Except that child support goes first notwithstanding anything else in the statute (CPLR 5234). For execution against other kinds of property (real estate, income) there are different rules.

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.

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Answered on 2/08/05, 2:22 pm


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