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Asking the debtor: information subpoenas and examinations

After judgment the questions that matter are small in number: where the money is, what the debtor owns, who owes the debtor. Both New York and Florida make the debtor answer those under oath, and back the questions with contempt. What neither does is find the answers for you. A subpoena compels a reply; it does not search. And if the debtor lies under oath, the remedy is a contempt motion, not the truth. Nobody writing this is a lawyer and none of it is advice.

What the debtor must answer

The post- is not asking politely. The statutes open the debtor and the people around the debtor to sworn questions, and attach a penalty to silence.

In New York the reach is wide and stated plainly. At any time before the judgment is satisfied or vacated, the creditor may compel disclosure of all matter relevant to satisfying it by serving a subpoena on any person. CPLR 52231. Any person, not just the debtor. Relevant to , which is the only limit the sentence carries.

Florida runs the same way through its civil rules. In aid of a judgment or execution the creditor may obtain discovery from any person, the debtor included, in the manner the rules provide. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560(a)2. So the tools of ordinary discovery turn toward collection once there is a judgment to collect.

The penalty is what makes the questions work. New York makes refusal or willful neglect to obey an enforcement subpoena, and false swearing on an examination or in written answers, punishable as contempt of court. CPLR 52513. Florida gets to the same place from two sections: failure to obey the order to complete the fact information sheet may be considered contempt, Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560(b), and a person who disobeys an order in proceedings supplementary or fails to attend on a subpoena may be held in contempt, Fla. Stat. 56.29(7)4.

Florida closes one escape hatch and leaves a protection in its place. A party or witness is not excused from answering because the answer would tend to show fraud or knowledge of a transfer of property, Fla. Stat. 56.29(5), and the same subsection provides that the answer cannot be used against that person in a criminal proceeding. The creditor gets the admission. The prosecutor does not.

A four step procedure for turning the public record into post-judgment questions. One, read what is already recorded, because a Florida deed carries the name and post-office address of each signer and, unless it is a mortgage, each grantee under Florida Statutes six ninety-five point twenty-six, subsection one, New York City ACRIS holds the parties and addresses of each recorded real property related document, and Florida judgment lien certificates are indexed by debtor name under Florida Statutes fifty-five point two oh three. Two, put the sworn questions, the Florida fact information sheet under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure one point five six zero asking for accounts, real estate and transfers over one hundred dollars in the last year, or a New York information subpoena under C P L R fifty-two twenty-four answered under oath within seven days. Three, aim at a bank or other non-party, which in New York needs the signed certification of reasonable belief or the subpoena is null and void. Four, when an answer shows the debtor moved personal property to an insider within one year before service of process in the original action, the debtor carries the burden of proving it was not to defraud creditors under Florida Statutes fifty-six point twenty-nine, subsection three. Three things the public record will not settle: where the debtor banks, what is owed on a loan today, and whether an answer given under oath is true.

Steps one to three gather what the debtor must disclose. Step four is where a transferred piece of personal property stops being a question and becomes the debtor's burden to explain.

New York: subpoenas and depositions

CPLR 52245 gives three instruments, and the one aimed at a bank carries a trap that voids it if you skip a signature.

The three are a subpoena to attend a deposition, a subpoena duces tecum to produce books and papers, and an information subpoena with written questions. CPLR 5224(a). Each must state the parties, the date and court of the judgment, its amount and the amount then due, and that false swearing or failure to comply is punishable as contempt. CPLR 5223. A subpoena that leaves those out is doing less than it looks like.

The information subpoena is the cheap one and the most used. It may be served by registered or certified mail, and it must be answered in writing under oath, each question separately and fully, within seven days after receipt. CPLR 5224(a)(3). That is the device that reaches a bank. And here is the trap: sent to anyone other than the debtor, a bank for example, from a private creditor, it needs a signed certification that the creditor or its attorney reasonably believes the recipient has information that will help collect the judgment. CPLR 5224(a)(3)(i). Without that certification the subpoena is null and void. CPLR 5224(a)(3)(ii). A bank will know this. Many answer a defective subpoena with nothing.

A deposition or an examination of books and papers may proceed on not less than ten days' notice to the person subpoenaed, unless the court orders shorter. CPLR 5224(c). And the reach does not stop at the state line. A subpoena duces tecum served on the debtor, on an individual in New York, or on a business doing business in New York pulls records in its possession, custody or control whether they sit inside or outside the state. CPLR 5224(a-1).

Two smaller points worth knowing before you serve. The debtor, and anyone served with an information subpoena, is not entitled to a fee. CPLR 5224(b). And you do not get to examine the debtor over and over at will: leave of court is required to make the debtor appear again, or produce books again, within one year after an earlier examination on the same judgment ended. CPLR 5224(f).

Florida: the fact information sheet

Florida's first move is a form, sworn and detailed, that asks the debtor to lay out income, accounts, land, vehicles and recent gifts without anyone leaving the office.

At the creditor's request the court must order the debtor to complete form 1.977, the fact information sheet, with all required attachments, within 45 days of the order or another reasonable time the court sets. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560(b). The creditor can build this in earlier: if the prevailing party asks, the final judgment itself must include a paragraph ordering the debtor to complete the form under oath and serve it within 45 days, and the court keeps jurisdiction to compel it. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560(c). The debtor signs under penalty of perjury and delivers the form to the creditor or the creditor's attorney. It is not filed with the clerk, so it will not turn up in the case file.

For an individual the form asks the plain questions. Where is the employer and what is the rate of pay. Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.9776. Which checking and savings accounts, with the account numbers. What real estate is owned or being bought, the names on title and the balance. Each motor vehicle, with boats and aircraft listed too. It asks who owes the debtor money and why, and whether the debtor has given, sold, loaned or transferred any property worth more than $100 to anyone in the last year, and to whom. That last question is a map of where the money went.

The attachments carry as much as the answers. An individual must attach the last pay stub, the last 3 statements for each financial account, vehicle registrations and titles, deeds and leases, any financial statements or loan applications from the last 3 years, and the last 2 tax returns. Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.977. A business entity must name each owner of 5% or more and its officers, directors, members or partners. It must also attach 3 years of tax returns and account statements. The spouse portion is included only on a showing that a proper predicate exists for discovery of the spouse's separate income and assets. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560(d).

The form is not the end of it. Proceedings supplementary begin when a creditor with an unsatisfied judgment files a motion and affidavit stating the unsatisfied amount and that the execution is valid and outstanding. Fla. Stat. 56.29(1). From there, on the creditor's motion the court must require the debtor to appear in the county of residence or principal place of business and be examined under oath about property subject to execution. Fla. Stat. 56.30(1)7. That testimony is comprehensive and covers everything that may tend to show what property the debtor has and where it is. Fla. Stat. 56.30(3). A corporate debtor answers through a designee with knowledge or a named officer or manager, and any party may call other witnesses about property that may be subject to execution. And the examination is not free to the loser: costs of proceedings supplementary are taxed against the debtor, and reasonable attorney fees may be. Fla. Stat. 56.29(8).

Aiming discovery with the record

A question lands harder when it names a thing. Deeds, liens and companies already sit in the public record. Reading what is on file first, before a single question goes out, tells you exactly what to put to the debtor.

Start with what the print. To be recorded in Florida, an instrument conveying or encumbering real property must carry the printed name and post-office address of each person who signed it and, unless it is a mortgage, of each ; the section has exceptions. Fla. Stat. 695.26(1)8. So a Florida deed already names who gave the property and who got it. In New York City, the ACRIS Real Property Parties records hold the names and addresses of the parties to each recorded real property related document. And Florida judgment certificates on personal property sit in a public online database indexed by each debtor's name. Fla. Stat. 55.2039. None of that is behind a subpoena. It is the free reconnaissance that makes the paid questions precise.

Some of what the record shows also shifts who has to explain it. In Florida, if within 1 year before service of process in the original action the debtor held title to, or paid for, personal property now claimed by a spouse, relative or confidant, the debtor bears the burden of proving the transfer was not made to hinder, delay or defraud creditors. Fla. Stat. 56.29(3)(a). So a car signed over to a cousin in the year before service does more than raise a question. It hands the debtor the job of answering it.

When the answers show a third party holding the debtor's property, Florida has a device for that person too. The Notice to Appear directs the named person to file an affidavit, not less than 7 business days after service, saying why the property, debt or other obligation should not be applied to the judgment. Fla. Stat. 56.29(2). A worked example makes the sequence plain: a boat transferred to a relative a month before the complaint gives the examination its first two questions, who paid and what the debtor got back. Read the record, then ask.

One thing the record will not give you, and it is the one creditors want most. A bank account is not in any public register, which is why the information subpoena to the bank exists at all. See bank accounts are not in any public record for why that search comes up empty every time.

Sources

Every section named above, with how current the text we read was. Read any of them yourself.

  1. CPLR 5223, Disclosure. Current through January 01, 2026. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  2. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560, Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.560. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  3. CPLR 5251, Disobedience of subpoena, restraining notice or order;  false swearing;  destroying notice of sale. Current through January 01, 2026. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  4. Fla. Stat. 56.29, Proceedings supplementary. 2026 Florida Statutes. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  5. CPLR 5224, 5224. Subpoena; procedure. (a) Kinds and service of subpoena. Any or all of the following kinds of subpoenas may be serv. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  6. Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.977, Fla. R. Civ. P. Form 1.977. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  7. Fla. Stat. 56.30, Discovery in proceedings supplementary. 2026 Florida Statutes. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  8. Fla. Stat. 695.26, Requirements for recording instruments affecting real property. 2026 Florida Statutes. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back
  9. Fla. Stat. 55.203, Judgment lien certificate; content, filing, and indexing. 2026 Florida Statutes. Read the section, opens in a new tab Back