You Won the Case. Now Get the Money.
A small claims judgment is only as good as the enforcement behind it. We process clerk executions across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island — so the court order you earned actually turns into payment.
Why Creditors Across NYC Choose Us
Mayor-Appointed Marshal Number 14
Our appointment comes directly from the Mayor of New York City — giving us court-authorized legal power to seize property and garnish wages that no collection agency holds.
All Five Boroughs Covered
Whether your debtor works in the Bronx or banks in Brooklyn, we pursue them across every borough — one office, one contact, no jurisdictional gaps.
Bonded and DOI Regulated
Every NYC Marshal carries a $100,000 public officer’s bond and operates under ongoing oversight by the NYC Department of Investigation — accountability no private collector is required to meet.
Two Generations of NYC Enforcement
Edward F. Guida Sr. dedicated his life to NYC civil enforcement. We carry that legacy forward with the same commitment to running a respectful and efficient marshal office.
Small Claims Execution NYC
The Process Most Creditors Don’t Know Exists
When you win a judgment in NYC Small Claims Court, the court doesn’t collect the money for you. That part is entirely on you — and most people don’t realize that until they’re sitting with a judgment and a debtor who simply isn’t paying.
What many creditors also don’t know is that there’s a specific legal pathway built for exactly this situation. It’s called a clerk execution. Instead of needing an attorney to obtain the execution from the court, the small claims court clerk does it on your behalf. From there, a court-appointed marshal like us takes over — pursuing the debtor through property execution, income execution, or both.
It was designed to be accessible. It’s the enforcement tool New York created so that individuals and small businesses who represented themselves in court could still collect what they’re owed without hiring a lawyer to do it.
Execute Small Claims Judgment NYC
What Changes When a Marshal Gets Involved
A collection agency can send letters. A mayor-appointed marshal can show up, seize assets, and garnish wages — that’s a fundamentally different kind of pressure.
- Your judgment stops sitting on paper and starts being enforced by someone with actual legal seizure authority.
- You gain access to two enforcement tools — property execution and income execution — matched to what the debtor actually has.
- Your unpaid judgment accrues interest at 9% per year, so the longer the debtor waits, the more they owe you.
- You don’t need an attorney to get started — the clerk execution pathway was built for self-represented small claims creditors.
- One office covers the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island — so a debtor can’t simply move boroughs and disappear.
- You deal directly with Marshal Guida’s office, not a call center or an intermediary who doesn’t know your case.
Marshal Clerk Execution vs. Collection Agency
A Marshal Can Do What Collectors Cannot
There’s a real and important difference between a private collection agency and a New York City Marshal, and it comes down to legal authority. A collection agency can call the debtor, send demand letters, and report to credit bureaus. That’s about it. We can physically execute on a court order — meaning we can levy bank accounts, seize business assets, and initiate income executions that require the debtor’s employer to withhold wages.
That authority doesn’t come from a business license. It comes from a mayoral appointment under the NYC Civil Court Act. When the court clerk issues an execution and directs it to our office, we are acting as an arm of the court — not as a third-party debt collector. That distinction is why so many judgment creditors across the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn who tried collection agencies first eventually end up calling a marshal.
Research consistently shows that roughly 75% of judgments go uncollected nationally. In many cases, it’s not because the debtor has nothing — it’s because the creditor never deployed the right enforcement tool.
Property and Income Execution NYC
Two Enforcement Paths, One Office
For small claims judgments, we can pursue enforcement through two distinct methods, and the right choice depends on what the debtor actually has.
A property execution targets the debtor’s physical and financial assets — bank account funds, business cash, vehicles, and other personal property. If your debtor owns a business in Brooklyn or keeps accounts at a local bank, this is often the faster path to collection.
An income execution — sometimes called wage garnishment — directs the debtor’s employer to withhold a portion of their wages until the judgment is satisfied. This is particularly effective in the Bronx and Queens, where a large portion of judgment debtors are employed but may not hold significant property assets. NYC’s dense workforce means there’s almost always an employer to reach.
We help you determine which approach fits the situation. In some cases, both are worth pursuing. What matters is that you’re not guessing — you’re working with an office that has processed both types of executions across all five boroughs and knows how each plays out in practice.
Clerk Execution Processing Steps
From Court Judgment to Collected Payment
Obtain Your Clerk Execution
After the 30-day voluntary payment window closes, the small claims court clerk issues the execution on your behalf — no attorney needed.
Provide Debtor Information
You supply what you know about the debtor — their employer, bank, or assets. We guide you through exactly what’s needed and take it from there.
We Execute and Collect
We pursue the debtor through property execution, income execution, or both — across whichever borough they’re in — until the judgment is satisfied.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a clerk execution and how is it different from other executions?
In most civil court matters, an attorney obtains the execution from the court on the creditor’s behalf. Small claims court works differently. Because small claims was designed for people without lawyers, New York law allows the court clerk to issue the execution directly — you don’t need to hire an attorney to get the process started. Once that clerk execution is issued, it’s handed to a marshal like us to act on. The enforcement that follows is legally identical to any other court-ordered execution — we have the same authority to levy assets and garnish wages. The clerk execution pathway simply removes the legal representation barrier that would otherwise slow things down or add cost.
What happens after the 30-day waiting period in NYC Small Claims Court?
New York law gives the judgment debtor 30 days from the date judgment is entered to pay voluntarily. Once that window closes without payment, enforcement can begin. This is when you should contact our office. We’ll discuss what information you have about the debtor — their employer, any known bank accounts, property they own — and determine whether property execution, income execution, or both make sense for your situation. Acting promptly after the 30-day window matters. Debtors who have no intention of paying voluntarily sometimes begin moving money or switching employers once they realize enforcement is coming.
My debtor lives in one borough but works in another — can you still collect?
Yes, and this is one of the most common situations we handle across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Our office is authorized to pursue enforcement across all five NYC boroughs. So if your debtor lives in Staten Island but their employer is in Manhattan, or they bank in Queens but work in Brooklyn, that doesn’t create a jurisdictional problem for us. We follow the assets, not the address. Our office is based in Corona, Queens, with direct access to the highway network connecting all five boroughs, which means we can move across the city without the delays that come from working through multiple county offices.
What information do I need to provide to get started with enforcement?
The marshal’s office has the legal authority to execute — but we rely on you to point us in the right direction. For a property execution, it helps to know where the debtor banks, what property they own, or whether they operate a business with accessible cash or assets. For an income execution, we need the name and address of the debtor’s employer. If you don’t have all of this, that’s not necessarily a dead end — an information subpoena, which is a legal document signed by the small claims court clerk, can require the debtor and third parties to answer questions about the debtor’s assets. We can discuss this option when you contact our office.
Is my small claims judgment still valid if I haven’t tried to collect yet?
Small claims judgments in New York remain valid and enforceable for 20 years from the date of entry. So if you won a case two years ago and never pursued collection, the judgment hasn’t expired. That said, waiting has a real cost — not just because debtors can move assets over time, but also because every year of delay is a year the debtor isn’t paying the 9% annual interest that New York law requires them to owe you on the outstanding balance. A $6,000 judgment from three years ago is now worth more than $7,600 in principal plus interest. Acting sooner is almost always in your financial interest, even if the judgment itself remains technically enforceable for decades.
Can you garnish wages for a small claims judgment in New York City?
Yes. Income execution — wage garnishment — is one of the two primary enforcement tools available for small claims judgments in New York, and it’s one we use regularly across all five boroughs. Once an income execution is issued, the debtor’s employer is legally required to withhold a portion of the debtor’s wages and remit them toward the judgment. This is particularly effective when the debtor is employed but doesn’t hold significant property or bank assets — a common profile in the Bronx and parts of Queens, where the workforce is large and homeownership rates are lower. If the debtor changes jobs, the execution can be redirected to the new employer. It’s a durable enforcement tool that doesn’t depend on the debtor cooperating.
Call us at (718) 779-2134 or email us at gu*****@**********14.com to see how we can help you.