Cost to sue · New York
What it costs to sue in New York small claims court
Filing a small claims case in New York costs $15–$20 in court fees, plus $0 or more to deliver the papers to the person you're suing. You can sue for up to $10,000. Everything below is read from New York's own fee schedules and statutes, each one linked.
Every figure on this page is for New York City's Civil Court specifically. Small claims fees and dollar limits differ elsewhere in the state — City Courts outside NYC cap claims at $5,000 and Town and Village Courts at $3,000, with their own lower filing fees.
Informational only — this is not legal advice, and it doesn't predict how a case will turn out. Court fees change without much notice; confirm the exact figure with your court clerk before you file. Last reviewed: September 2026.
Does your claim qualify?
An individual can sue for up to $10,000 in New York small claims court. A business or other entity is held to the same limit.
Corporations, partnerships, and associations can't file in NYC's regular Small Claims Part at all — they're routed to the separate Commercial Claims Part instead. Same $10,000 cap, but a different filing fee and process.
How long you have to file
New York sets a different deadline depending on what the claim is about. Miss it and the court can throw the case out no matter how strong it is.
| Type of claim | Deadline | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Written contract | 6 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. §213(2) |
| Oral contract or agreement | 6 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. §213(2) |
| Property damage | 3 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. §214(4) |
| Personal injury | 3 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. §214(5) |
New York doesn't distinguish a written contract from an oral one — both run on the same 6-year period.
What the court charges to file
New York charges by how much you're suing for, in bands:
| Claim amount | Filing fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1,000 | $15 |
| Over $1,000, up to $10,000 | $20 |
These figures are for New York City's Civil Court specifically. Small claims fees and limits differ outside NYC: City Courts elsewhere cap claims at $5,000 and Town/Village Courts at $3,000, both with lower filing fees (roughly $10–$15) than NYC's.
Getting the papers to the other side
Filing isn't enough — the person you're suing has to be formally notified, and New York recognizes these methods:
| Method | Cost |
|---|---|
| Clerk-mailed notice (standard) | Included |
Clerk-mailed notice (standard). Included in your filing fee — the clerk mails the claim notice by both regular first-class and certified mail automatically, with no separate charge. NYC Bar Small Claims FAQ
If the clerk's mailing comes back undelivered, the court will tell you to arrange personal service instead, through a city marshal or licensed process server. NYC's Department of Investigation doesn't publish a fee schedule for this — the Bureau of City Marshals can give you a quote directly.
If you can't afford the fee
New York can waive the filing fee entirely for someone who can't afford it. The published income test is 200% of the federal poverty guidelines for your household size.
Automatic qualification. You currently receive Medicaid, SNAP, or SSI.
New York's poor-person's-relief statute (CPLR 1101) sets no fixed income number of its own — the 200%-of-poverty-guideline and automatic-benefits standards below are the court system's own published practice for reviewing an application. A judge decides every case under the statute's "insufficient means" standard and can grant a waiver outside these guidelines.
Source: N.Y. C.P.L.R. §1101; NY Courts Fee Waivers (Poor Person's Relief) guidance
Bringing a witness to the hearing
Subpoenaing someone to testify in New York costs $15 per day plus $0.23 per mile round trip. It has to be paid when the subpoena is served, or the witness doesn't have to show up.
A witness subpoenaed for a pretrial deposition instead of trial testimony gets an extra $3/day — not modeled here, since this tool covers testifying at trial.
Source: N.Y. C.P.L.R. §8001
Interest on what you're owed
An unpaid New York judgment earns 9% a year from the day it's entered until it's paid.
New York cuts this to 2% for a consumer debt judgment against an individual defendant — most unpaid-personal-loan or unpaid-bill small claims cases qualify. It doesn't apply to a business defendant or a judgment that isn't consumer debt.
Source: N.Y. C.P.L.R. §5004
Garnishing the debtor's wages
New York caps how much of one paycheck a judgment creditor can take, based on the debtor's disposable earnings.
New York's income-execution rule (CPLR 5231) applies statewide, not just in NYC. It's more protective than federal: creditors are also capped at 10% of gross earnings, and nothing can be withheld at all in a week your disposable earnings don't exceed 30× the federal minimum wage.
Source: N.Y. C.P.L.R. §5231
Levying a bank account
Having an officer levy a bank account in New York starts with about $90 up front, and the officer takes a percentage of whatever is actually collected.
The 5% poundage fee is added to what the debtor owes, not deducted from what you recover. NYC marshals don't publish one flat upfront filing fee — practitioner guidance puts it at $55–$125 depending on the execution type (property vs. income) and other case-specific factors; this calculator uses $90, the midpoint of that range, as a representative figure for the total below.
How long the judgment lasts
A New York judgment stays enforceable for 20 years. No renewal filing is needed to keep it alive for that term.
No filing is required to keep the judgment itself enforceable for the full 20 years. Separately, a real-property lien from it only runs 10 years and needs its own "renewal judgment" (CPLR 5014, a new lawsuit) to reach a second 10-year term — that lien mechanic isn't covered here.
Source: N.Y. C.P.L.R. §211(b)
What isn't shown for New York
These costs are real, but New York doesn't publish a single statewide figure for them — they're set county by county, or by an authority that doesn't publish a citable rate. Rather than show a number that would be wrong for your court, this page leaves them out:
- What it costs to appeal a judgment
Your court clerk can give you the figure for your county.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page is read from New York's own statute, court fee schedule, or judiciary guidance, and each section links the source it came from. Nothing here is estimated, averaged, or copied from another site's summary. Where a cost genuinely varies by county or isn't published anywhere citable, this page says so rather than showing a number.
This page is a summary — the calculators it links to do the arithmetic for your specific claim amount, dates, and circumstances.
Last reviewed: September 2026