How to Complete and File the New York Satisfaction of Judgment Form

The New York satisfaction of judgment form, called a satisfaction-piece in the Civil Practice Law and Rules, is the document a judgment creditor signs and files with the court clerk after the debtor pays what is owed. Filling it out means entering the case details exactly as they appear on the docket, signing before a notary, and filing the notarized original with the clerk of the court where the judgment was entered. The creditor has 20 days from receiving full payment to get it filed, and statutory penalties apply if they don’t.¹

What Goes on the Form

CPLR 5020 requires the satisfaction-piece to be “acknowledged in the form required to entitle a deed to be recorded.”¹ Some courts publish a fill-in-the-blank template; the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for example, posts one on its website. State courts vary, so check the clerk’s office where your judgment was entered for a local version, or use legal stationery that meets the statutory requirements.

Pull these details straight from the court’s docket:

The full names of the judgment creditor and the judgment debtor, exactly as they appear on the original judgment.
The index or case number assigned when the lawsuit was filed.
The book and page where the judgment is docketed in the clerk’s records. The statute specifically requires this.¹
The exact date the judgment was entered and the dollar amount originally awarded.

Every entry has to match the clerk’s records. A misspelled name or wrong index number will get the filing rejected.

Notarization and Who Signs

The creditor signs the satisfaction-piece in front of a New York notary public, who acknowledges the signature, applies a seal, and signs. Without that acknowledgment, the clerk will refuse the filing. New York caps notary fees at $2 for an in-person acknowledgment, or up to $25 for electronic notarization.²

The creditor doesn’t have to handle this personally. Within ten years after a judgment is entered, the creditor’s attorney of record can sign and file the satisfaction-piece on the creditor’s behalf.³ If the creditor revoked that authority before the document was signed, the satisfaction-piece may not protect anyone who knew about the revocation before paying.

The 20-Day Deadline and Penalties for Missing It

Once the creditor receives full payment, CPLR 5020 gives them 20 days to sign, notarize, and file the satisfaction-piece with the proper clerk. After filing, a copy must be mailed to the judgment debtor within 10 days.³

A creditor who misses the 20-day deadline owes a statutory penalty to the debtor:

$100 for judgments under $5,000.
$500 for judgments of $5,000 or more.

The debtor can pursue these penalties through a special proceeding under CPLR 7202 or in small claims court, depending on the original court. One exception: when New York City is the judgment creditor, penalties don’t apply unless the debtor first sends a written demand by certified mail with return receipt requested, and the city still fails to file within 20 days of receiving that demand.³

Where to File

The satisfaction-piece goes to the clerk of the court where the original judgment was entered. If the judgment came from a city court but was later docketed with a county clerk, the satisfaction has to be filed with that county clerk as well as with the city court.⁴ The creditor can file it directly or hand the signed document to the debtor to file.

If the judgment was docketed in additional counties through a transcript of judgment, which is a common step when a creditor wants to create a lien on real property elsewhere, the creditor also has to file a certificate of satisfaction in every one of those counties. The certificate comes from the clerk of the county where the judgment was originally entered and confirms the debt has been paid.⁵ Miss a county and the lien can linger on the debtor’s property there even though the debt is fully paid.

File in person at the clerk’s window or mail the notarized original to the clerk’s office. Once a valid satisfaction-piece is received, the clerk updates the judgment docket to show the debt as satisfied.⁵

Partial Payments

When a payment covers only part of what’s owed, the creditor files a partial satisfaction-piece. The requirements are identical: notarization, book and page from the docket, and a copy mailed to the debtor within 10 days of filing.⁶ The clerk notes the partial payment on the docket, reducing the outstanding balance in the public record. This matters most when a lien is on real property; a creditor who has received substantial payments but leaves the full lien amount on record can create problems for a debtor trying to sell or refinance.

What If the Creditor Won’t File

Sometimes a creditor collects and never files, or refuses to. CPLR 5021(a)(2) lets the debtor file a motion asking the court to order entry of satisfaction when the judgment has been paid but a satisfaction-piece can’t be obtained. The court decides what notice the creditor must receive before ruling.⁵

A separate path exists when a sheriff collects through execution. The sheriff returns the execution to the clerk marked satisfied, and the clerk enters satisfaction directly, with no satisfaction-piece from the creditor needed.⁵

Fees

County clerks do not charge for filing a satisfaction of judgment, a certificate of satisfaction, or a partial satisfaction. CPLR 8021 exempts these filings from the standard document-filing fee, and the exemption covers certificates filed in other counties where the judgment was docketed.⁷ The costs you’ll actually see are the $2 in-person notary fee and, if you want a certified copy for your own records, a modest fee that varies by clerk’s office, generally around $5 to $10.

What Filing Actually Clears

Once the clerk updates the docket, any judgment lien on real property in that county is released. If the judgment was docketed in multiple counties, the lien lifts only where a certificate of satisfaction has actually been filed, so follow through everywhere a transcript was recorded.

Credit reports are a different matter. Since July 2017, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have not included civil judgments on consumer credit reports, a change tied to the National Consumer Assistance Plan.⁸ Filing the satisfaction-piece still clears the court record and lifts property liens, but it won’t change a standard credit report because the judgment shouldn’t be there to begin with. Specialty background-check and tenant-screening services that pull directly from court records will see the judgment marked as satisfied once the filing is on the docket.

1
New York State Senate. New York Code CVP – Satisfaction-Piece
2
New York State Senate. New York Executive Law Section 136 – Notarial Fees
3
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Section 5020 – Satisfaction-Piece
4
New York Courts. Satisfaction Of Judgment
5
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law Section 5021 – Entry of Satisfaction
6
New York State Senate. New York Code CVP 5020 – Satisfaction-Piece
7
New York State Education Department. Section 8021, Civil Practice Laws and Rules
8
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A New Retrospective on the Removal of Public Records