Defines the term "satisfaction" in relation to the satisfaction of judgments; allows satisfaction of judgments to be filed by affirmation rather than after notarization; increases the time during which attorneys may file satisfaction of judgment from ten to twenty years; clarifies that the twenty-day time limit applicable to filing satisfactions of judgment is measured in business days.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10388
IN SENATE
May 15, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. SANDERS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to defin-
ing satisfaction of judgment and authorizing satisfactions to be filed
on affirmation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 5020 of the civil practice law and rules, as
2 amended by chapter 1051 of the laws of 1969, subdivision (a) as amended
3 by chapter 148 of the laws of 1979, subdivision (b) as amended by chap-
4 ter 41 of the laws of 1977, subdivision (c) as amended by chapter 227 of
5 the laws of 2020, and subdivision (d) as added by chapter 601 of the
6 laws of 1974, is amended to read as follows:
7 § 5020. Satisfaction-piece. (a) As used in this section, the term
8 "satisfaction" shall mean (i) the receipt and clearance of funds in
9 satisfaction of a judgment by the judgment creditor or the attorney for
10 the judgment creditor, or (ii) receipt by the judgment creditor or the
11 attorney for the judgment creditor of notice from a sheriff that a judg-
12 ment is satisfied.
13 (b) Generally. When a person entitled to enforce a judgment receives
14 satisfaction or partial satisfaction of the judgment, [he] such person
15 shall execute and file with the proper clerk pursuant to subdivision (a)
16 of section 5021, a satisfaction-piece or partial satisfaction-piece
17 [acknowledged in the form required to entitle a deed to be recorded]
18 affirmed consistently with rule 2106, which shall set forth the book and
19 page where the judgment is docketed. A copy of the satisfaction-piece or
20 partial satisfaction-piece filed with the clerk shall be mailed to the
21 judgment debtor by the person entitled to enforce the judgment within
22 ten days after the date of filing.
23 [(b)] (c) Attorney of record. Within [ten] twenty years after the
24 entry of a judgment the attorney of record or the attorney named on the
25 docket for the judgment creditor may execute a satisfaction-piece or a
26 partial satisfaction-piece, but if [his] such attorney's authority was
27 revoked before it was executed, the judgment may nevertheless be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14386-03-6
S. 10388 2
1 enforced against a person who had actual notice of the revocation before
2 a payment on the judgment was made or a purchase of property bound by it
3 was effected.
4 [(c)] (d) When a judgment for less than five thousand dollars is fully
5 satisfied, if the person required to execute and file with the proper
6 clerk pursuant to subdivisions [(a) and (d)] (b) and (e) of this section
7 fails or refuses to do so within twenty business days after receiving
8 full satisfaction, then the judgment creditor shall be subject to a
9 penalty of one hundred dollars recoverable by the judgment debtor pursu-
10 ant to section [seventy-two hundred two of this chapter] 7202 or article
11 eighteen of either the New York [City] city civil court act, uniform
12 district court act or uniform city court act. When a judgment for five
13 thousand dollars or more is fully satisfied, if the person required to
14 execute and file with the proper clerk pursuant to subdivisions [(a) and
15 (d)] (b) and (e) of this section fails or refuses to do so within twenty
16 business days after receiving full satisfaction, then the judgment cred-
17 itor shall be subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars recoverable
18 by the judgment debtor pursuant to section [seventy-two hundred two of
19 this chapter] 7202 or article eighteen of either the New York city civil
20 court act, uniform district court act or uniform city court act;
21 provided, however, that such penalties shall not be recoverable when a
22 city with a population greater than one million persons is the judgment
23 creditor, unless such judgment creditor shall fail to execute and file a
24 satisfaction-piece with the proper clerk pursuant to subdivisions [(a)
25 and (d)] (b) and (e) of this section within twenty business days after
26 having been served by the judgment debtor with a written demand therefor
27 by certified mail, return receipt requested.
28 [(d)] (e) Where a transcript of the docket of a judgment has been
29 docketed in any other county of the state pursuant to subdivision (a) of
30 section 5018, the person required to execute and file with the proper
31 clerk pursuant to subdivision [(a) hereof] (b) of this section shall,
32 upon receiving full satisfaction, file a certificate of the clerk of the
33 county in which the judgment was entered, in accordance with subdivision
34 (c) of section 5021, with the clerks of all other counties in which such
35 judgment has been docketed.
36 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
37 have become a law.
