Attachment and Receivership in Judgment Collection
These two remedies get filed together and explained together, and they sit at opposite ends of the case. Attachment is provisional: Rule 64 makes it available at the commencement of and throughout an action, to secure a judgment you have not yet won. A receivership comes after, when a judgment exists and the property has to be administered or sold rather than simply handed over. What they share is that custody leaves the debtor — and that is why both carry machinery a turnover order does not. This page reads the grounds, the powers and the fees from the statutes themselves.
The Short Version
Attachment and receivership both take property out of the debtor’s control, which is what separates them from a turnover order, and they happen at different moments. Attachment is a provisional remedy: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 64 makes state seizure remedies available at the commencement of and throughout an action to secure satisfaction of the potential judgment, and lists five — arrest, attachment, garnishment, replevin, sequestration — plus equivalents. Grounds are enumerated by statute; New York’s list runs to exactly five, and the Supreme Court held in Connecticut v. Doehr that attaching real estate without prior notice or hearing failed due process. A receivership is post-judgment: New York’s provision lets a receiver administer, collect, improve, lease, repair or sell the debtor’s property, caps commissions at five percent of sums received and disbursed, and gives the receiver no power to employ counsel unless the court expressly allows it.
Watch: When Custody Leaves the Debtor
The two remedies that displace control.
Watch Overview
Two Remedies at Two Different Moments
The half of this page’s title that happens before you win.
| Attachment — while the case is still running | Receivership — after the judgment exists |
|---|---|
| Secures satisfaction of a judgment you have not yet obtained | Collects a judgment you already hold |
| Property is seized and held pending the outcome | Property is administered, and often sold, to satisfy the debt |
| Granted on enumerated statutory grounds, and constrained by due process | Granted on a showing that ordinary enforcement will not work |
| Held by an officer under the court’s control | Held by a receiver, an officer of the court rather than your agent |
| Ends when the case ends, one way or the other | Ends when the judgment is satisfied or the court discharges it |
Lumping these together, which almost every page on the subject does, hides the one thing a creditor most needs to know: if you already hold a judgment, attachment is usually behind you and receivership is the live question.
Attachment Belongs to the Lawsuit
A provisional remedy, with enumerated grounds and a constitutional ceiling.
In federal court the source is Rule 64, and its words are precise: at the commencement of and throughout an action, every remedy is available that, under the law of the state where the court is located, provides for seizing a person or property to secure satisfaction of the potential judgment. Rule 64(b) then lists the remedies it covers — arrest, attachment, garnishment, replevin and sequestration, five named devices, followed by a catch-all for other corresponding or equivalent remedies, however designated and regardless of whether state procedure requires an independent action. So the federal rule is a conduit: the substance is your state’s.
The grounds are not open-ended. New York’s list, at CPLR 6201, runs to exactly five, and it is worth seeing them enumerated because the shape is typical: (1) the defendant is a non-domiciliary residing outside the state, or a foreign corporation not qualified to do business there; (2) the defendant lives or is domiciled in the state but cannot be personally served despite diligent efforts; (3) the defendant has assigned, disposed of, encumbered or secreted property, or removed it from the state, or is about to, with intent to defraud creditors or frustrate enforcement; (4) certain actions by crime victims; and (5) the cause of action is based on a judgment or order entitled to full faith and credit. The section is unavailable in a matrimonial action.
Ground (5) is the one judgment creditors should notice, because it is the bridge between the two halves of this page. A creditor suing in a second state on a sister-state judgment is bringing an action, and that action can support attachment even though the underlying claim has already been adjudicated somewhere else. If that is your position, read how the judgment gets there first in our guide to domesticating a judgment across state lines.
There is also a constitutional ceiling. In Connecticut v. Doehr, 501 U.S. 1 (1991) the Supreme Court considered a statute authorising prejudgment attachment of real estate without prior notice or hearing, and held it did not satisfy due process. The Court’s reasoning turned on how much an attachment really costs the person attached: it ordinarily clouds title; impairs the ability to sell or otherwise
deal with the property, on nothing more than one side’s affidavit. That is the reason attachment practice is full of notice requirements, hearings and bonds — and the reason it is not something to reach for casually.
What a Receivership Order Actually Grants
Read from the statute, including the parts creditors dislike.
Six authorised acts, plus a residual
New York’s provision authorises a receiver to administer, collect, improve, lease, repair or sell property in which the debtor has an interest — or to do any other acts designed to satisfy the judgment.
An order that has to be specific
The appointment order must specify the property to be received, the receiver’s duties, and the manner in which they are to be performed. A vague application produces a vague order and a stalled receivership.
A commission cap
The receiver is entitled to necessary expenses and to commissions the appointing court allows, not exceeding five percent of the sums received and disbursed. That is a real number to put in your recovery arithmetic.
No lawyer unless the court says so
A receiver has no power to employ counsel unless expressly authorised by court order — a limit that surprises creditors who assume the receiver will litigate for them.
A creditor-receiver works for free
If a judgment creditor is appointed receiver, the statute says plainly that they are entitled to no compensation.
Priority and queueing
Where a receiver is already in place, another judgment creditor may move to have the receivership extended to their judgment rather than start a second one.
Federal practice adds its own layer. Rule 66 provides that administering an estate by a receiver must accord with the historical practice in federal courts or with a local rule, and that an action in which a receiver has been appointed may be dismissed only by court order — you cannot quietly walk away from a receivership you asked for.
Why Courts Are Slow to Hand Over Custody
The objections a custodial application has to answer.
Something less intrusive would work
If a levy, a garnishment, or an order to the debtor would collect, a court has little reason to displace the debtor’s control.
The property has not been identified
A receiver appointed over nothing in particular generates fees and no recovery, and the order cannot specify what it must specify.
The value will not carry the cost
Commissions, expenses and, where authorised, counsel come out of the recovery before the creditor sees anything.
Third parties will be affected
Tenants, employees, co-owners and other lienholders all have positions, and the application has to account for them.
The dissipation is asserted, not shown
An affidavit that the debtor is ‘moving money’ is not evidence that specific property was transferred.
Nobody has said how it ends
Courts want an exit: what gets sold, what gets paid, and when the receiver is discharged.
Every one of those is answered with facts rather than argument, which is why a custodial application is usually the second thing a creditor files, not the first. The groundwork is post-judgment discovery, a documented debtor asset profile, and, where value has already moved, a documented transfer trail. Where the debtor simply has the asset and could hand it over, a turnover order asks far less of the court and gets there faster; where an order already exists and is being ignored, the question becomes contempt rather than custody.
How Custody Changes Hands
From a suspicion of dissipation to a receiver in place.
Fix the timeline
Establish whether you are pre-judgment, and therefore in attachment territory, or post-judgment and looking at a receiver.
Identify and value the property
Name the specific asset, what it is worth, and what already encumbers it, so the recovery arithmetic is honest.
Document the reason custody is needed
Evidence of transfers, concealment, or property that has to be managed rather than seized.
Draft to the statute’s requirements
The order must specify the property, the duties, and how they are to be performed.
Account for everyone else with a stake
Senior lienholders, co-owners, tenants and other creditors who may seek to extend the receivership to their own judgments.
Our Part: The Evidence Behind the Application
Facts a court can act on, gathered lawfully.
A custodial remedy is granted on a record, and building that record is factual work. We identify and document what the debtor owns and what encumbers it, trace where value has gone when property has been moved or retitled, and locate the debtor and any third parties who will have to be served — each finding tied to its source so it can survive the scrutiny an application of this weight attracts. We do that only where a lawful purpose such as enforcing your judgment has been established, using public records and licensed data.
Three limits deserve stating on a page about remedies that displace somebody’s control of their own property. The first is licensure: no private detective’s licence sits behind this research and this page does not imply one does. The second is method: nobody here will misrepresent who is asking to a county recorder, a registered agent or a receiver’s office, and no account contents are obtained from any institution. The third is subject matter: where a request is really an attempt to locate someone hiding from an abuser, or a person who relocated for their own safety after domestic violence, it is declined and the file is never opened, whatever paperwork accompanies it. As for whether attachment or a receivership is available to you, on what grounds and with what bond — that is your state’s law and your lawyer’s judgment, and what you are reading is general information about court procedure rather than legal advice.
What We Commit To
An application to take custody of someone’s property is granted on evidence, not adjectives. We document what the debtor owns, what sits ahead of you on it, and where value has gone if it has moved, and we locate everyone who will need to be served — each item sourced so it holds up under the scrutiny this kind of application attracts. We do not apply for the order, serve as the receiver, or advise on whether to seek one. Ownership and encumbrance research, from public records and licensed data, since 2004.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are attachment and receivership the same kind of remedy?
They share the feature that matters — custody of property leaves the debtor — but they sit at different points in a case. Attachment secures a judgment you have not yet obtained; a receivership collects one you already hold.
When exactly is attachment available?
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 64 makes state seizure remedies available at the commencement of and throughout an action, to secure satisfaction of the potential judgment. The substantive grounds come from the state’s own statute and are enumerated rather than open-ended.
What are the usual grounds for an attachment?
They vary, but New York’s list is representative and runs to exactly five: a non-domiciliary or unqualified foreign corporation; a defendant who cannot be personally served despite diligent efforts; property assigned, disposed of, encumbered, secreted or removed with intent to defraud creditors; certain crime-victim actions; and a cause of action based on a judgment entitled to full faith and credit.
Is there a constitutional limit on attaching property?
Yes. In Connecticut v. Doehr, 501 U.S. 1 (1991), the Supreme Court held that a statute authorising prejudgment attachment of real estate without prior notice or hearing did not satisfy due process, reasoning that an attachment ordinarily clouds title and impairs the owner’s ability to sell.
What can a post-judgment receiver actually do?
Under New York’s provision a receiver may be authorised to administer, collect, improve, lease, repair or sell property in which the debtor has an interest, or to do other acts designed to satisfy the judgment. The appointment order has to specify the property, the duties, and how they are to be performed.
What does a receiver cost?
New York caps the receiver’s commissions at five percent of the sums received and disbursed, on top of necessary expenses, and the appointing court sets the figure within that ceiling. A judgment creditor who is appointed receiver is entitled to no compensation at all.
Why would a court refuse to appoint one?
Most often because something less intrusive would collect, because the property has not been identified with enough precision for the order to specify it, or because the expected recovery will not carry the commissions and expenses.
What do you provide toward an application like this?
The factual record: what the debtor owns, what encumbers it, where value has gone if it has been moved, and the current whereabouts of everyone who has to be served. An initial picture typically comes back within 24 hours, sourced so your counsel can put it in front of a judge.
Build the Record Before You Ask for Custody
Applications that displace a debtor’s control succeed on documented facts. Send us the debtor’s identifiers and we will return a sourced picture of the property, the encumbrances, and any transfers — lawfully and typically within 24 hours. Contact us to begin.
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