Wage garnishment is a common way to collect a New York money judgment from a defendant who earns a steady paycheck but will not pay voluntarily. New York calls the procedure an income execution, set out in CPLR § 5231. This article explains how an income execution works, how much of a paycheck it reaches, what income the law puts off-limits, and how a debtor can challenge one. It is one of the enforcement procedures covered in the overview of small claims in New York.
Income execution: New York’s wage garnishment tool
An income execution is an order directing whoever pays the debtor, usually an employer, to withhold part of each payment and turn it over to an enforcement officer, who forwards it to the creditor. Under CPLR § 5231(b), the installments cannot exceed 10% of the debtor’s gross income. “Income” reaches more than salary: it includes wages, commissions, bonuses, and periodic pension or retirement payments.
New York uses two kinds of enforcement officers. Every county has a sheriff, and New York City also has independent city marshals. The creditor delivers the income execution to the officer for the county where the debtor lives, or where a nonresident debtor works. The officer does not investigate where the debtor banks or works; the creditor supplies that information, often after serving an information subpoena to identify the employer. The New York City Civil Court’s guide to collecting a judgment describes how creditors locate assets and engage an enforcement officer.
How much of a paycheck can be garnished
The 10% figure is a ceiling on gross pay, but a second set of limits, drawn from the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. § 1673) and written into CPLR § 5231(b), protects lower earners. No money can be withheld for a week unless the debtor’s disposable earnings that week exceed 30 times the greater of the federal or the New York minimum wage. Disposable earnings are what remains after legally required deductions such as taxes and Social Security.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 puts the federal floor at $217.50 a week. New York’s minimum wage is higher, so the New York figure governs in this state. As of 2026, N.Y. Labor Law § 652 sets the minimum wage at $17.00 an hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, and $16.00 an hour in the rest of the state. Thirty times those rates means a debtor whose weekly disposable earnings are $510 or less downstate, or $480 or less in the rest of the state, has no wages taken at all.
Above that floor, CPLR § 5231(b) caps the withholding for any week at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings rise above the 30-times threshold. For most paychecks the 10%-of-gross figure is the smaller number and controls. Two further limits apply: if alimony, child support, or maintenance deductions already take 25% of disposable earnings, an income execution adds nothing, and a judgment from a medical-debt case brought by a hospital or health professional cannot be collected by income execution at all.
Steps to start an income execution
A creditor who has won a money judgment, for example a claimant who prevailed in New York City small claims court, and wants to garnish wages follows a defined sequence.
Docket the judgment
Before a sheriff will enforce a small claims judgment by income execution, a transcript of the judgment generally must be filed with the county clerk so the judgment is docketed. The small claims clerk issues the transcript; the county clerk dockets it.
Identify the employer
The creditor must tell the officer where the debtor works. An information subpoena, available from the court clerk for a $3 fee, requires an employer, bank, or the debtor to answer questions about where the debtor’s income and assets can be found.
Prepare the income execution
The income execution names the debtor, the employer, the judgment amount, and the 10% installments to be withheld. It carries a statutory notice that explains the withholding limits to the debtor.
Deliver it to an enforcement officer
The creditor delivers the execution to the sheriff of the debtor’s county or, in New York City, to a city marshal. The officer’s fee for an income execution is $5, and the creditor pays up to $50 toward the officer’s costs in advance.
Service and withholding
The officer serves the debtor first. If the debtor does not pay within 20 days, the officer serves the employer, which then withholds the installments. The officer accounts for and pays over the collected money at least once every 90 days under
CPLR § 5231(k).
Fees and the role of the sheriff and marshal are explained on the New York City Civil Court collecting-a-judgment page. If a creditor settles with the debtor after engaging an officer, the officer is still owed 5% of the settlement amount, and any advance already paid is not refunded.
Income and property the law protects
New York exempts a long list of income and property from money judgments under CPLR § 5205, and several of those exemptions bear directly on wage garnishment.
Earnings carry their own protection. Under CPLR § 5205(d)(2), 90% of the debtor’s earnings for personal services rendered within the 60 days before, and any time after, the income execution is delivered are exempt, which reinforces the 10% cap on what an income execution can reach.
Some income is exempt at the source and cannot be garnished as wages or seized from a bank account. The statute lists Social Security, supplemental security income, veterans’ benefits, public assistance, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and public and private pensions among these “statutorily exempt payments.” When payments like these are deposited electronically into a bank account, CPLR § 5205(l) shields $2,500 in the account from a creditor’s levy if exempt deposits were made in the 45 days before the account was restrained.
How a debtor can challenge or stop an income execution
The income execution itself carries a notice telling the debtor how to dispute it, and New York provides two routes. Under CPLR § 5231(i), either party may move the court for an order modifying the income execution at any time. More broadly, CPLR § 5240 lets a court deny, limit, condition, or modify the use of any enforcement procedure, including an income execution, when its use is unfair.
A debtor also has the built-in 20-day window: paying the installments to the sheriff during that period keeps the execution from ever reaching the employer. And the levy is not permanent against a job that ends. Under CPLR § 5231(f), if the debtor’s employment ends by resignation or dismissal, the levy becomes ineffective unless the debtor is rehired within 90 days.
When wages are not the answer
An income execution reaches a debtor only while that debtor draws a paycheck from an identifiable employer. It does not help against someone who is unemployed, paid off the books, or self-employed. For those situations, New York creditors turn to other tools: a restraining notice and property execution against a bank account, a lien on real property, or, where the judgment arose from the ownership or operation of a vehicle and exceeds $1,000 unpaid for more than 15 days, suspension of the debtor’s driver’s license. These run on the same enforcement track and are described on the New York courts’ collecting-a-judgment guidance.
Frequently asked questions
How much of my wages can be garnished in New York?
An income execution takes up to 10% of gross income under CPLR § 5231(b). Two limits cut that further: nothing is withheld for a week unless disposable earnings exceed 30 times the minimum wage (about $480 to $510 a week in 2026 New York), and the withholding can never exceed 25% of disposable earnings. If support orders already deduct 25% of disposable earnings, an income execution takes nothing.
How do I stop a wage garnishment in New York?
New York provides two court routes. A judgment debtor may move to modify the income execution under CPLR § 5231(i), or seek a protective order under CPLR § 5240, which lets a court limit or halt any enforcement procedure. Paying the installments to the sheriff during the first 20 days also keeps the execution from reaching the employer. A debtor who claims the wrong amount is being withheld contacts the employer and may consult a lawyer or legal aid.
Can Social Security or unemployment benefits be garnished for a judgment?
No. CPLR § 5205 treats Social Security, supplemental security income, veterans’ benefits, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, public assistance, and pensions as exempt from a money judgment. When these are direct-deposited, the statute also shields $2,500 in the bank account from a levy if exempt deposits arrived within the prior 45 days. These protections do not apply to judgments for child support or spousal support.
Does a creditor need a court judgment before garnishing wages?
For an ordinary debt, yes. A private creditor cannot issue an income execution without first suing and obtaining a money judgment. Separate administrative processes exist outside this rule, such as garnishment for unpaid taxes or for child support, which follow their own statutes rather than CPLR § 5231.
What happens if more than one income execution is filed against the same debtor?
Income executions against the same debtor and the same employer are satisfied in the order they were delivered to an enforcement officer, under CPLR § 5231(j). Deductions for child support, alimony, or maintenance take priority and are calculated first, which can leave no room within the 25%-of-disposable cap for a money-judgment income execution.