2006 New York Code - Restraining Notice.

 
    §  5222.  Restraining  notice.    (a)  Issuance; on whom served; form;
  service. A restraining notice may be issued by the clerk of the court or
  the attorney for the judgment creditor as officer of the  court,  or  by
  the  support  collection  unit  designated  by  the  appropriate  social
  services district. It may be served upon any person, except the employer
  of a judgment  debtor  or  obligor  where  the  property  sought  to  be
  restrained  consists  of  wages  or  salary  due or to become due to the
  judgment debtor or obligor. It shall be served personally  in  the  same
  manner  as  a summons or by registered or certified mail, return receipt
  requested or if issued by the support collection unit, by regular  mail,
  or  by electronic means as set forth in subdivision (g) of this section.
  It shall specify all of the parties to the action,  the  date  that  the
  judgment  or  order  was entered, the court in which it was entered, the
  amount of the judgment or order and the amount  then  due  thereon,  the
  names  of  all  parties  in whose favor and against whom the judgment or
  order was entered, it shall set forth subdivision (b)  and  shall  state
  that  disobedience  is  punishable  as a contempt of court, and it shall
  contain an original signature or copy of the original signature  of  the
  clerk  of  the  court  or attorney or the name of the support collection
  unit which issued it. Service of a restraining notice upon a  department
  or  agency of the state or upon an institution under its direction shall
  be made by serving a copy upon the head of the department, or the person
  designated by him or her and upon the  state  department  of  audit  and
  control  at  its  office  in  Albany; a restraining notice served upon a
  state board,  commission,  body  or  agency  which  is  not  within  any
  department  of the state shall be made by serving the restraining notice
  upon the state department of audit and control at its office in  Albany.
  Service at the office of a department of the state in Albany may be made
  by  the  sheriff  of  any county by registered or certified mail, return
  receipt requested, or if issued  by  the  support  collection  unit,  by
  regular mail.
    (b) Effect of restraint; prohibition of transfer; duration. A judgment
  debtor  or obligor served with a restraining notice is forbidden to make
  or suffer any  sale,  assignment,  transfer  or  interference  with  any
  property  in  which  he or she has an interest, except upon direction of
  the sheriff or pursuant to an order of the court, until the judgment  or
  order is satisfied or vacated. A restraining notice served upon a person
  other  than  the judgment debtor or obligor is effective only if, at the
  time of service, he or she owes a debt to the judgment debtor or obligor
  or he or she is in the possession or custody of property in which he  or
  she knows or has reason to believe the judgment debtor or obligor has an
  interest,  or  if  the  judgment creditor or support collection unit has
  stated in the notice that a specified debt is owed by the person  served
  to the judgment debtor or obligor or that the judgment debtor or obligor
  has  an  interest  in specified property in the possession or custody of
  the person served. All property in which the judgment debtor or  obligor
  is  known  or believed to have an interest then in and thereafter coming
  into the possession or custody of such a person, including any specified
  in the notice, and all debts of such a person, including  any  specified
  in the notice, then due and thereafter coming due to the judgment debtor
  or  obligor,  shall be subject to the notice. Such a person is forbidden
  to  make  or  suffer  any  sale,  assignment  or  transfer  of,  or  any
  interference  with,  any such property, or pay over or otherwise dispose
  of any such debt, to any person other than the sheriff  or  the  support
  collection  unit, except upon direction of the sheriff or pursuant to an
  order of the court, until the expiration of one year after the notice is
  served upon him or her, or until the judgment or order is  satisfied  or
  vacated,  whichever  event  first occurs. A judgment creditor or support
  collection unit which has specified  personal  property  or  debt  in  a
  restraining  notice  shall be liable to the owner of the property or the
  person to whom the debt is owed, if other than the  judgment  debtor  or
  obligor,  for  any  damages  sustained  by reason of the restraint. If a
  garnishee served with a restraining  notice  withholds  the  payment  of
  money  belonging  or owed to the judgment debtor or obligor in an amount
  equal to twice the amount due on the judgment or order, the  restraining
  notice is not effective as to other property or money.
    (c)  Subsequent  notice. Leave of court is required to serve more than
  one restraining notice upon the same person with  respect  to  the  same
  judgment or order.
    (d)  Notice  to  judgment  debtor  or obligor. If a notice in the form
  prescribed in subdivision (e) has not been given to the judgment  debtor
  or  obligor within a year before service of a restraining notice, a copy
  of the restraining notice together with the notice to judgment debtor or
  obligor shall be mailed by first class mail or personally  delivered  to
  each judgment debtor or obligor who is a natural person within four days
  of the service of the restraining notice. Such notice shall be mailed to
  the  defendant  at  his  or  her residence address; or in the event such
  mailing is returned as undeliverable by  the  post  office,  or  if  the
  residence  address of the defendant is unknown, then to the defendant in
  care of the place of  employment  of  the  defendant  if  known,  in  an
  envelope   bearing  the  legend  "personal  and  confidential"  and  not
  indicating on the outside thereof, by the return address  or  otherwise,
  that  the  communication  is  from an attorney or concerns a judgment or
  order; or if neither the residence address nor the place  of  employment
  of  the  defendant  is  known  then  to the defendant at any other known
  address.
    (e) Content of notice. The notice required by subdivision (d) shall be
  in  substantially  the  following  form  and  may  be  included  in  the
  restraining notice:
                    NOTICE TO JUDGMENT DEBTOR OR OBLIGOR
    Money  or  property  belonging  to  you may have been taken or held in
  order to satisfy a judgment or order which has been entered against you.
  Read this carefully.
                   YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK
    State and federal laws prevent certain money or  property  from  being
  taken  to satisfy judgments or orders. Such money or property is said to
  be "exempt". The following is a partial  list  of  money  which  may  be
  exempt:
    1. Supplemental security income, (SSI);
    2. Social security;
    3. Public assistance (welfare);
    4. Alimony or child support;
    5. Unemployment benefits;
    6. Disability benefits;
    7. Workers' compensation benefits;
    8. Public or private pensions; and
    9. Veterans benefits.
    If  you  think  that  any of your money that has been taken or held is
  exempt, you must act promptly because the money may be  applied  to  the
  judgment  or  order.  If  you claim that any of your money that has been
  taken or held is exempt, you may contact the person sending this notice.
    Also, YOU MAY CONSULT AN ATTORNEY, INCLUDING LEGAL AID IF YOU QUALIFY.
  The law (New York  civil  practice  law  and  rules,  article  four  and
  sections  fifty-two  hundred  thirty-nine  and  fifty-two hundred forty)
  provides a procedure for determination of a claim to an exemption.
    (f) For the purposes of this  section  "order"  shall  mean  an  order
  issued  by  a  court  of competent jurisdiction directing the payment of
  support, alimony or maintenance upon which a  "default"  as  defined  in
  paragraph   seven  of  subdivision  (a)  of  section  fifty-two  hundred
  forty-one of this article has been established subject to the procedures
  established  for  the  determination  of  a "mistake of fact" for income
  executions pursuant to subdivision  (e)  of  section  fifty-two  hundred
  forty-one  of  this article except that for the purposes of this section
  only a default shall not  be  founded  upon  retroactive  child  support
  obligations  as  defined  in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section
  four hundred forty of the  family  court  act  and  subdivision  one  of
  section two hundred forty and paragraph b of subdivision nine of section
  two hundred thirty-six of the domestic relations law.
    (g)  Restraining  notice  in  the  form  of  magnetic  tape  or  other
  electronic means. Where such  person  consents  thereto  in  writing,  a
  restraining  notice  in  the  form  of magnetic tape or other electronic
  means, as defined in subdivision (f) of rule twenty-one hundred three of
  this chapter, may be served upon a person other than the judgment debtor
  or obligor. A restraining notice in such form shall contain all  of  the
  information  required  to  be  specified  in  a restraining notice under
  subdivision (a), except for  the  original  signature  or  copy  of  the
  original  signature  of the clerk or attorney who issued the restraining
  notice. The provisions of this subdivision notwithstanding,  the  notice
  required  by  subdivisions  (d)  and  (e) shall be given to the judgment
  debtor or obligor in the written form set forth therein.