New York Asset Search

Every link in this guide was opened and verified on Sep. 17, 2026.

An asset appearing in a public record is not automatically available to pay a judgment. This guide separates the public-record search from private financial information and the New York collection process.

Follow the documents, not just the name

A New York City apartment may be a condominium represented in deed records or a cooperative interest represented differently. Do not treat every apartment address as a deed-owned parcel. For company property, follow the entity named in the records rather than assuming an associated individual owns it personally.

New York Courts explains that information subpoenas can help obtain postjudgment information, while restraining notices, executions and turnover proceedings are different enforcement tools. Begin by identifying which task is needed: finding an asset, restraining it or obtaining payment.

For a bank, identify the proper financial institution and use the applicable court process with the required notices and exemption materials. The protected-funds paperwork is part of valid bank collection; it is not an optional courtesy after money has been restrained.

An execution may require the sheriff or, in the applicable New York City setting, a marshal. Confirm the officer and jurisdiction before delivering papers. A restraining notice alone should not be described as completed recovery.

Follow the bank's response, any exemption claim and the court or officer procedure for payment. Keep the judgment balance, service date and all required notices together. Court records may provide financial clues, but protected account information is not a general public-search product.

The applicable official starting points are New York Courts: collection basics, New York Courts: sheriffs and marshals who collect. Use the current issuer's forms and instructions for the particular case.

A money judgment may need to be properly docketed with the County Clerk for the real-estate lien route described by New York Courts. Search title and existing claims before treating a lien as valuable. Cooperative shares, business interests and real-estate deeds are not interchangeable assets.

The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 estimates report an owner-occupied housing rate of 54.3% and a median value of owner-occupied housing of $423,800 in New York. The rate refers to occupied housing units, not a percentage of people. The value is not an estimate of equity available to creditors. Census QuickFacts: New York.

Real estate, cooperative interests where relevant, companies and court judgments provide distinct research paths. The difference between ACRIS coverage, Staten Island records and nondeeded interests matters when selecting the records to search.

Do not confuse an information subpoena with an execution or a restraint with a payment order. The account-protection notices and the correct enforcement officer need to be part of the plan before bank service.

• New York City Civil Court: collecting a judgment

New York is the clearest closed file state in the country. The Supreme Court is the only court that handles divorce, the case is filed in the county where a spouse resides, and the County Clerk of that county keeps the matrimonial file. Domestic Relations Law section 235(1) forbids the court officer or clerk from permitting a copy of any of the pleadings, affidavits, findings of fact, conclusions of law, judgment of dissolution, written agreement of separation or memorandum thereof, or testimony, or any examination or perusal thereof, to be taken by any person other than a party or the party's attorney, except by order of the court. Under section 235(5) the confidentiality ceases 100 years after the date of filing, when the records become public.

The sworn money form

New York's form is the Statement of Net Worth, revised effective January 1, 2026, required by DRL 236(B)(4), which makes financial disclosure compulsory in every matrimonial action where alimony, maintenance or support is in issue. It is sworn subject to the penalties of perjury and runs through family data including occupation and employer, expenses, gross annual income, assets in the categories of cash, checking, savings, investments and securities, real estate and retirement accounts, liabilities, assets transferred and legal fees. The court's contested divorce guidance says it is exchanged and filed no later than ten days before the preliminary conference. Because it is an affidavit in the matrimonial file, section 235 closes it to non-parties for a century. The judgment and the settlement agreement are closed on the same terms.

What a non-party can get

Section 235(3) creates a certificate of disposition, which the County Clerk issues to confirm that a judgment was entered without disclosing its terms, and section 235(4) requires marriage license clerks to accept it as proof of the dissolution. The New York State Department of Health issues a divorce certificate for divorces granted on or after January 1, 1963, but only to either spouse or a person with a New York court order. The eCourts applications, WebCivil Supreme and NYSCEF for e-filed cases, index Supreme Court cases, but under 22 NYCRR 202.16-c(a)(3) no document e-filed in a matrimonial action is open to public inspection online or at a courthouse or County Clerk terminal, and section 235 governs the paper file. A non-party who needs the file itself must obtain a court order.

Bankruptcy files for New York residents

New York has four bankruptcy districts: the Northern District at nynb.uscourts.gov, the Southern District at nysb.uscourts.gov, the Eastern District at nyeb.uscourts.gov and the Western District at nywb.uscourts.gov. Bankruptcy is federal, and 11 U.S.C. 107 makes the schedules public in New York exactly as elsewhere, so a New Yorker's bankruptcy file is the one sworn financial record a stranger can read.

After the file: the information subpoena

CPLR 5223 lets a judgment creditor compel disclosure of all matter relevant to the satisfaction of the judgment by serving a subpoena on any person, and CPLR 5224(a) provides three forms: a deposition subpoena, a subpoena duces tecum, and an information subpoena with written questions that must be answered in writing under oath by the person served, used on the debtor, banks and employers alike. The New York judgments and liens page covers the procedure.

• Domestic Relations Law 235The statute that closes matrimonial files and the 100 year rule
• Domestic Relations Law 236Compulsory financial disclosure in matrimonial actions
• Statement of Net Worth, revised January 1, 2026The sworn form itself
• CPLR 5223Disclosure in aid of enforcement

The national guide covers what stays private, the collection tools for every asset class and what a search and levy can cost: Asset Search, what public records reveal and what stays private.