N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 244

DRL § 244: turning unpaid support into an enforceable money judgment

Domestic Relations Law § 244 lets a court enter judgment for arrears of child support or other matrimonial payments, with interest for a willful default.

Official text N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 244 — New York

§ 244. Enforcement by execution of judgment or order in action for divorce, separation or annulment. Where a spouse in an action for divorce, separation or annulment, or declaration of nullity of a void marriage, or a person other than a spouse when an action for an annulment is maintained after the death of a spouse, defaults in paying any sum of money as required by the judgment or order directing the payment thereof, or as required by the terms of an agreement or stipulation incorporated by reference in a judgment, such direction shall be enforceable pursuant to section fifty-two hundred forty-one or fifty-two hundred forty-two of the civil practice law and rules. Upon application the court shall make an order directing the entry of judgment for the amount of arrears of child support together with costs and disbursements. The court shall make an order directing the entry of judgment for the amount of arrears of any other payments so directed, together with costs and disbursements, unless the defaulting party shows good cause for failure to make application for relief from the judgment or order directing such payment prior to the accrual of such arrears. The court shall not make an order reducing or cancelling arrears unless the facts and circumstances constituting good cause are set forth in a written memorandum of decision. The application for such order shall be upon such notice to the spouse or other person as the court may direct. Such judgment may be enforced by execution or in any other manner provided by law for the collection of money judgments. The relief herein provided for is in addition to any and every other remedy to which a spouse may be entitled under the law; provided that when a judgment for such arrears or any part thereof shall have been entered pursuant to this section, such judgment shall thereafter not be subject to modification under the discretionary power granted by this section; and after the entry of such judgment the judgment creditor shall not hereafter be entitled to collect by any form of remedy any greater portion of such arrears than that represented by the judgment so entered. Such judgment shall provide for the payment of interest on the amount of any arrears if the default was willful, in that the obligated spouse knowingly, consciously and voluntarily disregarded the obligation under a lawful court order. Such interest shall be computed from the date on which the payment was due, at the prevailing rate of interest on judgments as provided in the civil practice law and rules.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Where a spouse defaults in paying any sum required by a matrimonial judgment or order - or required by the terms of an agreement or stipulation incorporated by reference into a judgment - the direction is enforceable under CPLR §§ 5241 and 5242, and on application the court enters judgment for the arrears with costs and disbursements.

The section then draws a line between kinds of arrears. For child support arrears, the court "shall" make an order directing entry of judgment, full stop. For any other payments directed by the judgment, the court shall do the same unless the defaulting party shows good cause for failing to apply for relief from the order before the arrears accrued. The message to a payor whose circumstances change is contained in that clause: the time to go back to court is before the arrears build up, not after. And the court may not reduce or cancel arrears at all unless the facts and circumstances constituting good cause are set out in a written memorandum of decision.

Once entered, the judgment is enforceable by execution or any other method available for money judgments, and the relief is in addition to every other remedy. Two consequences follow entry that cut both ways: the judgment is no longer subject to modification under the discretionary power in the section, and the creditor may not collect more of those arrears than the judgment represents. Finally, the judgment must provide for interest on the arrears if the default was willful - defined in the text as knowingly, consciously and voluntarily disregarding the obligation under a lawful court order - computed from the date each payment was due at the CPLR rate.

When it applies

  • A parent has not received child support for months and wants an enforceable judgment.
  • A payor whose income dropped never applied to vary the order and now faces the full arrears.
  • A recipient seeks interest on arrears the payor simply chose not to pay.
  • Payments due under a settlement agreement incorporated into the judgment go unpaid.
  • A payor asks the court to cancel arrears that accrued during a period of unemployment.

What this section does not say

  • It does not change the amount of support going forward. Modification of the ongoing obligation is a separate application.
  • It gives no discretion at all on child support arrears - the court shall enter judgment for them.
  • It does not allow arrears to be reduced or cancelled without a written memorandum of decision setting out good cause.
  • It is not the only enforcement route. Income execution, license suspension and contempt proceedings exist under other provisions.
  • Once judgment is entered, the creditor cannot later collect more than the judgment amount for those arrears.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

Child support has gone unpaid for most of a year while the payor repeats that it will all be settled as soon as work picks up. The other parent has stopped counting and started borrowing.

How the wording applies

For child support arrears the section says the court shall make an order directing entry of judgment for the amount owed; there is no discretion to refuse. It also forbids reducing or cancelling arrears at all unless the good cause is set out in a written memorandum of decision. The interest question turns on whether the default was willful, which the text defines as knowingly, consciously and voluntarily disregarding the obligation.

How the parties settled it

They agree a figure for what is outstanding and a schedule with named dates, and accept that a missed month brings the whole remaining balance due at once.

Illustrative example

A payor's hours were cut two years ago. They kept paying what they could each month, never went back to court, and now face the full accumulated difference in one lump.

How the wording applies

For payments other than child support, the court shall enter judgment unless the defaulting party shows good cause for having failed to apply for relief from the order before the arrears accrued. The pivot is timing rather than hardship: the reason for the shortfall matters much less than whether an application was made while it was building.

How the parties settled it

They agree the arrears are owed but spread them over three years without interest, and add a standing term that each tells the other in writing whenever their income changes by more than an agreed amount.

Illustrative example

A settlement the spouses negotiated themselves was folded into their divorce judgment. One term - a share of an annual bonus - has never been paid, and the payor says it was part of a private deal rather than a court order.

How the wording applies

The section covers sums required by the terms of an agreement or stipulation incorporated by reference into a judgment exactly as it covers sums the judgment itself directs. It turns on whether the term was incorporated, not on whether it started life as a bargain between the two of them.

How the parties settled it

They agree the bonus share is due, fix a single date for it, and write down which of their remaining arrangements are part of the judgment and which are private, so the same argument cannot recur.

How courts have read it

Decisions construing this provision. The question and the summary are ours; the quoted sentence is the court's own words, taken from the published opinion. These are the decisions in our corpus, not every decision there is, and nothing here predicts any other case. Reported 2003 to 2017.

Seale v. Seale, 154 A.D.3d 1190 (2017)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Did the trial court err in denying the wife's motion for a money judgment for arrears under Domestic Relations Law § 244?

What it held

The trial court should have granted the motion for a money judgment because the husband failed to show good cause for not applying for relief prior to the accrual of arrears, leaving the court without discretion to deny the request.

In the court's words
The wife’s request for a money judgment should have been granted.

Holsberger v. Holsberger, 154 A.D.3d 1208 (2017)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

What types of payment obligations are enforceable under Domestic Relations Law § 244?

What it held

Obligations derived from a separation agreement incorporated into a judgment of divorce may be enforced under DOM § 244, but obligations under a separate subsequent note that supersedes incorporated terms and is not itself part of any order or judgment cannot be enforced under that section.

In the court's words
Since there is no separate order directing payment of the 2000 mortgage note, payment could not be enforced pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 244

Lundon v. Lundon, 120 A.D.3d 1395 (2014)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Under Domestic Relations Law § 244, is prejudgment interest on arrears of support and maintenance available only if the defaulting party's default was willful?

What it held

Prejudgment interest is not available under § 244 if the defaulting party shows that his default was not willful.

In the court's words
The Supreme Court properly denied those branches of the defendant’s motion which were for awards of prejudgment interest and counsel fees, since the plaintiff established that his default was not willful (see Domestic Relations Law §§237 [c]; 244; Theophilova v Dentchev, 117 AD3d 531 [2014]; Miklos v Miklos, 39 AD3d 826, 828 [2007]; Yeager v Yeager, 38 AD3d 534, 534-535 [2007]).

McCoy v. McCoy, 117 A.D.3d 806 (2014)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Whether the trial court erred in failing to award the mother arrears for pendente lite child support.

What it held

The trial court did not err because the mother's application for child support arrears was not made with proper notice as required by Domestic Relations Law § 244.

In the court's words
The Supreme Court did not err in failing to award the mother arrears for pendente lite child support.

O'Connor v. O'Connor, 116 A.D.3d 1155 (2014)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

Does Domestic Relations Law § 244 authorize prejudgment interest on arrears of pension payments when the default was willful?

What it held

Yes, prejudgment interest is appropriate under Domestic Relations Law § 244 where there is a willful violation of a court order directing payment of arrears.

In the court's words
Prejudgment interest is appropriate where there is a willful violation (see Domestic Relations Law § 244; Rivers v Rivers, 35 AD3d 426, 428-429 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 812 [2007]; Vicinanzo v Vicinanzo, 233 AD2d 715, 716 [1996])

Goldkranz v. Goldkranz, 82 A.D.3d 699 (2011)

Appellate Division

What the court had to decide

What did the court hold regarding the award of interest under Domestic Relations Law § 244?

What it held

The court held that under Domestic Relations Law § 244, an award of prejudgment interest is mandatory when the defaulting party's failure to pay was willful, i.e., knowingly, consciously, and voluntarily disregarded the obligation.

In the court's words
Domestic Relations Law § 244 provides that, in enforcement proceedings, an award of prejudgment interest is mandatory where “the default was willful, in that the obligated spouse knowingly, consciously and voluntarily disregarded the obligation under a lawful court order” (Domestic Relations Law § 244).

Source: Caselaw Access Project, CC0 1.0 Universal (public domain dedication).

Related sections

N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 241 DRL § 241: withholding visitation can suspend maintenance - but never child support N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 248 Maintenance ends on remarriage – N.Y. DRL §248 N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 234 DRL § 234: who stays in the house while the divorce runs

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 244 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in New York.

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