CPLR 5205 and 5206 Exemptions: A Warner & Scheuerman Guide to What a New York Debtor Gets to Keep

Every enforcement strategy in New York eventually collides with the exemption statutes. A judgment creditor can locate the account, identify the vehicle, and confirm the home address, and still recover nothing, because CPLR 5205 and 5206 put a floor under what the law will let a debtor lose. The attorneys at Warner & Scheuerman treat the exemption analysis as a first step rather than an afterthought, since knowing what is untouchable tells you where the collectible value actually sits and stops creditors from spending marshal’s fees on property that was never available.

What is a judgment exemption in New York?

An exemption is a statutory protection that places specific property beyond the reach of a money judgment, even where the debtor plainly owns it. CPLR 5205 covers personal property. CPLR 5206 covers the homestead, meaning the debtor’s principal residence.

Exemptions apply to natural persons. A corporation, LLC, or partnership gets none of them, which is why commercial judgment enforcement often proceeds along a completely different path than consumer collection. The exemptions also do not shield property from every claim. Judgments for child support, spousal support, maintenance, and certain tax obligations reach further than an ordinary money judgment.

How much home equity is protected under CPLR 5206?

The homestead exemption protects equity in the debtor’s principal residence, in an amount that varies by county and is adjusted for inflation on a recurring schedule. The statute sets three tiers.

The highest tier applies to Kings, Queens, New York, Bronx, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester, and Putnam counties. A middle tier applies to Dutchess, Albany, Columbia, Orange, Saratoga, and Ulster. The lowest tier covers the remaining counties. The base figures set by the Legislature were $150,000, $125,000, and $75,000 respectively, and CPLR 5206(a) directs adjustment every three years based on the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast region, so the current numbers run meaningfully higher. Confirm the operative figure before relying on it rather than quoting the statutory base.

The exemption covers more than a house. It reaches a condominium unit, shares in a cooperative apartment corporation, and a mobile home used as a residence, provided the property is occupied as a principal residence.

Equity is the measure, not value. A home worth $900,000 carrying an $800,000 mortgage offers a creditor nothing after the exemption, regardless of the sale price.

What personal property can a creditor never take?

CPLR 5205(a) exempts a list of household and working property outright, without regard to value in some categories and subject to caps in others.

• Household furniture, refrigerator, television, radio, computer and cell phone, crockery, tableware, and cooking utensils reasonably required for the debtor and dependents
• A wedding ring, plus a watch, jewelry, and art up to a capped amount
• Tools of trade, including professional instruments, furniture, and library, necessary to carry on the debtor’s profession or calling
• Domestic animals with food for a limited period, and a limited quantity of food for the household
• One motor vehicle up to a capped value, with a higher cap where the vehicle is equipped for use by a disabled person

CPLR 5205(a)(9) also provides an aggregate wildcard-style cap on the total value of exempt personal property, and CPLR 5205(a)(5) protects a specified cash amount for debtors who do not claim the homestead exemption. Every one of these dollar figures is subject to the same triennial CPI adjustment as the homestead, so working from an old form is how creditors and debtors both get the analysis wrong.

What income and accounts are protected?

CPLR 5205(c) exempts trusts, and payments from them, along with qualified retirement accounts including 401(k) plans, IRAs, and Keogh plans. The protection is not absolute. It does not extend to a trust the debtor created for their own benefit, the self-settled trust exception, and additions to a retirement account made within ninety days before enforcement can be attacked as fraudulent.

CPLR 5205(d) shields ninety percent of income from a trust and ninety percent of earnings received within the sixty days before enforcement, which pairs with the ten percent cap on income executions under CPLR 5231.

Bank accounts get separate treatment through the Exempt Income Protection Act, which sets an automatically protected minimum balance keyed to 240 times the state or federal minimum hourly wage, and a higher fixed protection where statutorily exempt payments such as Social Security, veterans benefits, or unemployment were directly deposited within the preceding forty-five days.

How does a Warner & Scheuerman exemption analysis change enforcement strategy?

By redirecting effort toward property the statutes leave open. Business interests, commercial receivables, investment property, non-retirement brokerage accounts, entity-held assets, and equity above the homestead tier are all fully exposed, and none of them carries an exemption.

The analysis also flags transfers worth attacking. A debtor who converts non-exempt cash into exempt property shortly before or after judgment invites a claim under New York’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, adopted in 2020 at Debtor and Creditor Law sections 270 through 281.

Debtors should know that exemptions are not automatic in every context. Where a bank restrains an account, the exemption claim procedure under CPLR 5222-a runs on short deadlines, and missing the twenty-day response window can cost protection the statute would otherwise have granted.

Knowing what the debtor keeps is what tells you what the creditor can reach. Warner & Scheuerman represents judgment creditors in New York post-judgment enforcement, including exemption disputes, valuation fights, and voidable transfer claims. Contact the firm through wslaw.nyc to assess where recoverable value sits in your case.