You located an account, served the restraining notice, paid the marshal, and the bank returned nothing. That result is usually not a bank error. It is the Exempt Income Protection Act working exactly as the Legislature designed it, and the enforcement attorneys at Warner & Scheuerman spend a fair amount of time explaining to judgment creditors why a debtor with money in the bank can still be untouchable. Understanding the statutory floors, the automatic federal protections, and the objection deadlines is the difference between a wasted levy and a collected judgment.
What is the Exempt Income Protection Act?
The Exempt Income Protection Act, commonly called EIPA, is a 2008 New York law effective January 1, 2009 that amended CPLR 5222, 5222-a, 5230, 5232, and 5205 to shield a baseline amount of money in a judgment debtor’s bank account from restraint. It applies to accounts held by natural persons. Accounts held by corporations, LLCs, and partnerships get no EIPA protection at all, which is why commercial judgments often collect where consumer judgments stall.
EIPA created two separate protections that operate automatically, without the debtor filing anything.
How much money in a bank account is automatically protected?
Two floors apply, and the bank must honor whichever is larger.
The first is the direct deposit protection under CPLR 5205(l)(1). If any statutorily exempt payment was directly deposited into the account within the 45 days before the levy, a fixed dollar amount becomes off limits. Qualifying deposits include Social Security, SSI, veterans benefits, public assistance, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, disability payments, railroad retirement, and child support. The figure started at $2,500 and is adjusted periodically. The New York State Department of Financial Services publishes the current amount, and it is worth confirming rather than working from a number in an old form file.
The second is the general account exemption under CPLR 5205(l)(2), which protects the greater of 240 times the federal minimum hourly wage or 240 times the New York minimum hourly wage. With the 2026 downstate rate at $17.00 per hour, that calculation produces roughly $4,080 for accounts in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester. Upstate, at $16.00, it lands near $3,840. Because New York’s minimum wage steps up annually and then indexes to inflation, this number moves. Recalculate it each year.
A bank served with a levy or restraining notice on an account holding less than the applicable floor may not restrain the account at all.
Does federal law protect the account too?
Yes, and separately. Under 31 CFR Part 212, a Treasury rule in effect since 2011, a bank receiving a garnishment order must review two months of account history and automatically protect the total of any federal benefit payments deposited by direct deposit during that lookback. That includes Social Security, SSI, VA, Railroad Retirement, and federal civil service retirement payments.
The federal rule and the state floors stack in practical effect. A retiree whose only income is Social Security direct deposit is functionally judgment proof at the bank level, regardless of how well drafted your restraining notice is.
What happens after the bank restrains an account?
CPLR 5222-a sets a tight calendar, and creditors lose money by missing it.
- Within two business days of the restraint, the bank must mail the debtor an exemption notice and two exemption claim forms.
- The debtor has 20 days from the mailing to complete a form and return it to both the bank and the judgment creditor.
- The judgment creditor then has eight days from receipt of the claim to serve a written objection.
- If no objection is served within that window, the bank must release the funds to the debtor.
- If the creditor objects, it must move for a court determination within five days of serving the objection.
The downside risk is real. A court that finds the funds exempt may award the debtor costs, reasonable attorney fees, actual damages, and an additional amount up to $1,000 where the creditor’s conduct warrants it. A frivolous exemption claim exposes the debtor to a similar award.
Why a Warner & Scheuerman enforcement review starts before the levy
Serving a levy without knowing what flows through the account is how creditors generate poundage bills and no recovery. The productive sequence is investigation first.
An information subpoena under CPLR 5224 served on the bank can reveal deposit patterns, average balances, and the source of incoming funds. That tells you whether the account holds wages, business receipts, or exempt benefits. Timing then matters: an account levied the day after a large non-exempt commercial deposit looks very different from the same account levied on the twenty-eighth of the month.
Other common reasons a levy returns empty are worth ruling out. The account may be jointly held with a non-debtor, which triggers a separate set of proof problems. The debtor may bank through a fintech app rather than a chartered institution. The judgment debtor may be a person while the money sits in a single-member LLC account, in which case a charging order or turnover proceeding is the correct tool, not a bank levy.
EIPA does not apply where the underlying judgment is for child support, spousal support, maintenance, or criminal restitution. Those creditors reach further.
An empty levy is information, not defeat. It tells you the debtor’s banking profile and points toward the enforcement device that will actually work, whether that is an income execution, a turnover proceeding, a receiver, or a fraudulent conveyance claim against transferred assets. Warner & Scheuerman represents judgment creditors in New York post-judgment enforcement and can assess where recoverable assets sit before you spend another marshal’s fee. Reach the firm through wslaw.nyc to discuss your judgment.
