Income Execution in New York: How Wage Garnishment Works After a Judgment

The Two-Stage Wage Garnishment Process

New York wage garnishment does not work the way most judgment creditors expect. You cannot serve an income execution directly on the debtor's employer from day one. CPLR 5231 mandates a two-stage process, and skipping the first stage invalidates the whole thing.

Stage One starts when the enforcement officer — a City Marshal in NYC or the County Sheriff elsewhere — serves the income execution on the judgment debtor personally. The debtor then has 20 calendar days to begin making voluntary payments, typically 10% of gross earnings per pay period, directly to the officer.

Stage Two kicks in only after those 20 days pass without the debtor beginning voluntary payments. The officer then serves the income execution on the debtor's employer. At that point, the employer is legally obligated to withhold wages from the debtor's paycheck each pay period and send the money to the enforcement officer.

This two-stage structure catches many creditors off guard. The statutory trigger for Stage Two is the debtor's failure to begin voluntary payments within the 20-day window.

How Much Can Be Garnished

New York applies three separate caps to every pay period, and the actual garnishment amount is the lowest of the three:

• 10% of gross earnings for that pay period
• 25% of disposable earnings (gross minus mandatory tax withholdings)
• The amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the state minimum wage

For Downstate workers (NYC, Long Island, Westchester) at the 2026 minimum wage of $17.00/hour, that 30× floor is $510.00 per week. If a debtor's weekly disposable earnings are $510 or less, no garnishment is permitted at all.

Here is how the math works for a Queens employee earning $800 gross per week with $650 disposable:

Upstate workers have a lower minimum wage ($16.00/hour in 2026), making the floor $480.00 per week. The garnishment formula is the same — only the floor changes.

Income That Cannot Be Garnished

Certain income streams are completely exempt from income executions regardless of amount:

• Social Security and SSI benefits
• Veterans' benefits
• Public assistance and Unemployment Insurance
• Workers' compensation
• Child support or maintenance received by the debtor
• Disability benefits
• 90% of wages earned in the 60 days before the execution was served

That last point matters for new employment. If the debtor just started a job, virtually all earnings from the first two months are shielded.

Child support and spousal maintenance orders also take absolute priority. If a prior support garnishment already consumes 25% or more of the debtor's disposable income, your income execution is blocked entirely until that obligation is satisfied.

When Income Executions Do Not Work

An income execution is useless against self-employed debtors, independent contractors receiving 1099 income, or anyone not on a traditional payroll. In those situations, the enforcement tool is a CPLR 5226 Installment Payment Order — a court motion where you present evidence of the debtor's income and the judge sets a fixed weekly or monthly payment schedule. Violating that order can lead to civil contempt proceedings.

Income executions also fail when you do not know where the debtor works. That information typically comes from an information subpoena served under CPLR 5224, which can be directed to the debtor or to third parties who might know their employer.

Getting Started

To initiate an income execution, you need a docketed judgment (transcript filed with the County Clerk), the debtor's employer name and payroll address, and an enforcement officer willing to process the execution. The officer charges an advance deposit — typically up to $50 — plus 5% poundage on whatever amount is actually collected.

The process is mechanical but detail-heavy: wrong employer addresses, missing debtor information, or failing to docket the judgment first will bounce the execution back to you. Our New York Judgment Collection Guide walks through each step with the exact forms, fees, and officer intake requirements for NYC Marshals, the NYC Sheriff, and County Sheriffs statewide.

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