New York Judiciary Law § 756 sets out how a party starts a civil contempt proceeding in a New York court. The application can be made either by a notice of motion or by an order to show cause, it must be served on the accused between ten and thirty days before the hearing, and it must contain specific statutory language, including a bolded warning that failing to appear can lead to immediate arrest and imprisonment. Leaving that warning off the papers is treated as a jurisdictional defect, meaning the court has no power to punish the respondent for contempt unless the respondent waives the objection by litigating the merits.1FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 756
How to Start a Civil Contempt Proceeding
Section 756 gives two procedural vehicles. The moving party can file a notice of motion returnable before the court or judge authorized to punish the offense, or it can submit an order to show cause requiring the accused to appear at a specified time and place and explain why they should not be punished.1FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 756 Once filed, the application is noticed, heard, and decided the same way as any other motion on notice in that court.
This procedural track exists because Judiciary Law § 754 treats civil contempt as a special proceeding where a party’s rights or remedies in a pending action may be “defeated, impaired, impeded, or prejudiced” by the misconduct.2FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 754 One narrow situation sits outside § 756: contempt committed “in the immediate view and presence of the court” under § 755 can be punished summarily, without a full application.3FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 755 Everything else runs through § 756.
A procedural shortcut will not substitute. In Matter of Werner v. Kenney, a father tried to seek contempt against the mother by cross-claim inside a custody proceeding. The Fourth Department vacated the Family Court’s contempt finding and the sanctions it had imposed, which included a $250 fine and $18,000 in attorneys’ fees, holding that a cross-claim was not a proper procedural method for seeking contempt relief. A later order to show cause with the correct language was prepared but never signed or served, so it did not cure the problem.4NY Courts. Matter of Werner v Kenney, 2026 NY Slip Op 02754
Service Deadlines and Who Must Receive the Papers
Section 756 imposes its own service window that overrides the general motion schedule in CPLR 2214. The moving papers must be served no fewer than ten days and no more than thirty days before the hearing date.1FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 756 There are two exceptions: the court can order a different schedule, and proceedings under CPLR § 5250, which deals with contempt in aid of enforcement of money judgments, follow their own timeline.
Judiciary Law § 761 governs who must be served. The application must be served on the accused personally, though the court may direct service on the accused’s attorney instead.5Justia. NY Judiciary Law § 761
The Mandatory Warning Language
Two statements have to appear on the face of the application. First, the papers must state that the purpose of the hearing is to punish the accused for contempt of court, and that the punishment may consist of a fine, imprisonment, or both. Second, the application must display the following warning in at least eight-point bold type:
WARNING: YOUR FAILURE TO APPEAR IN COURT MAY RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT.1FindLaw. NY Judiciary Law § 756
The warning was added by a 1977 amendment, and its purpose is to put the accused on immediate notice that their liberty is at stake.6NY Courts. A.S. v S.O., 2026 NY Slip Op 50371(U) Courts do not treat it as a formality.
What Happens If the Warning Is Missing
A missing warning is a jurisdictional defect. The court has no power to hold the respondent in contempt, and any contempt order that follows will be reversed on appeal. The rule has been applied for more than four decades.
In Barreca v. Barreca, the Fourth Department addressed a wife’s application to hold her husband in contempt for failing to pay alimony, child support, and counsel fees. Because the application did not include the required notice and warning, the court held that the trial court “was without jurisdiction to punish for contempt.”7vLex. Barreca v Barreca, 77 AD2d 793
The Second Department reached the same result in Community Preservation Corp. v. Northern Boulevard Property, LLC. A receiver moved to hold a property owner in civil contempt for disobeying a prior court order. The motion was in writing and satisfied the ten-day notice requirement, but it omitted the statutory warning. The Appellate Division reversed both the contempt finding and the order of incarceration, holding that the omission deprived the court of jurisdiction.8NY Courts. Community Preserv. Corp. v Northern Blvd. Prop., LLC, 139 AD3d 889
When the Defect Can Be Waived
The defect is powerful but not self-executing. A respondent who answers a defective contempt motion on the merits, without pointing out the missing warning, can lose the objection.
In A.S. v. S.O., a Westchester County Supreme Court decision, a defendant’s cross-motion for contempt failed to include the § 756 warning. The plaintiff filed answering papers that fought the motion on substance but never raised the notice deficiency. The court held that the plaintiff had waived the objection and allowed the contempt proceeding to go forward, drawing on earlier appellate authority including Dalton v. Dalton (2d Dept. 2018), Matter of Cunha v. Urias (2d Dept. 2012), and the Court of Appeals’ decision in Matter of Rappaport (1983).6NY Courts. A.S. v S.O., 2026 NY Slip Op 50371(U)
The practical takeaway runs both directions. A movant who leaves the warning out is relying on the respondent’s silence, which is a bad place to be. A respondent who wants to defeat a defective motion should raise the § 756 defect before engaging the merits.
Use in Matrimonial and Family Cases
Section 756 is the procedural engine behind most contempt applications in matrimonial and family cases. Domestic Relations Law § 245 specifically authorizes an application under Judiciary Law § 756 to punish a spouse for defaults in paying money required by a judgment or order, covering alimony, child support, maintenance, and equitable distribution.9NYS Divorce. Contempt of Court – A Remedy of First Resort
The procedural rules in § 756 apply the same way in these cases. The ten-to-thirty-day service window, the personal service requirement under § 761, the recital of purpose and possible punishment, and the eight-point bold warning all have to appear. Family Court contempt findings are routinely vacated when any of these pieces is missing, as the Werner decision illustrates.4NY Courts. Matter of Werner v Kenney, 2026 NY Slip Op 02754