How do I file a marital separation and property settlement agreement in New York?
Full Question:
I am trying to file a marital separation and property settlement agreement (uncontested) in Kings County New York. I sent 3 notarized copies to the correct place at the Clerk's office with the proper fee and it was sent back to me saying I needed a 'note of issue', a fee for the note of issue, an index number with an index fee. Where do I get the note of issue and index number? This is just the separation agreement, not the divorce agreement. Is there anything else I will need to send or do to have the separation agreement on file?
04/28/2009 |
Category: Divorce |
State: New York |
#16244
Answer:
An index number is a number issued by a county clerk, which is used to identify a case and initiate a civil action. A note of issue is used to have the court's clerk enter a case upon the court calendar for trial as of the date of the filing of the note of issue.
The following are New York Statutes:
§ 8018 N.Y.C.P.L.R.
Index number fees of county clerks.
(a) Amount of fee.
1. A county clerk is entitled, for the assignment of an index number to an action pending in a court of which he or she is clerk, to a fee of one hundred ninety dollars, payable in advance.
2. The filing of a transcript of judgment in the county clerk's office is not to be deemed an action pending in the supreme or county court of the county in which it is filed, nor does it constitute the commencement of an action in such courts.
3. In addition, a county clerk is entitled, for the assignment of an index number to an action pending in a court of which he or she is clerk, to the following fee: an additional five dollars, to be paid monthly by the county clerk to the commissioner of education, after deducting twenty-five cents, for deposit into the New York state local government records management improvement fund and an additional fifteen dollars, after deducting seventy-five cents, for deposit to the cultural education account.
(b) Exemptions from index number fee. No fee shall be charged for the assignment of an index number:
1. upon the filing of an order of the appellate term of the supreme court or of an order or certificate of commitment under the mental hygiene law; or
2. upon the transfer of papers from the clerk of any other court, pursuant to an order for change of venue; or
3. to a criminal case or to any action at the request of a public agency, officer or poor person entitled by law to exemption from payment of fees to a county clerk; or
4. to any case in a county court on appeal from a judgment or order of the district court or a town, village or city court; or
5. to a civil cause of action in which a city, town, village, fire district, district corporation, school district or board of cooperative educational services is the plaintiff.
(c) Endorsement of index number on papers. No paper in an action in the supreme or a county court, other than an order submitted for signature to a judge out of court, shall be submitted for any purpose to the supreme or county court or to a clerk thereof unless there is endorsed on such paper the index number of the action assigned by the clerk of the county.
(d) Additional services without fee where index number assigned. A county clerk who has assigned an index number shall charge no further fee in the action to which the index number is assigned:
1. for the filing, entering, indexing, or docketing, and in the counties within the city of New York, for recording, as required by statute, of any and all papers in the action, or preliminary thereto or supplementary to judgment;
2. for furnishing an extract of minutes for filing with the clerk of the court, for affixing a certificate to a filed paper, for taxing costs, for sealing writs, for issuing commissions, for certifying a copy of the clerk's minutes to accompany papers transmitted upon entry of an order for change of venue, or for entering a judgment in the action;
3. for docketing of a satisfaction, a partial satisfaction, an assignment, a reversal, a modification, an amendment, a cancellation or a continuance of a previous entry or docket of a previously filed paper in the action;
4. for certifying a copy of an order of an appellate term of the supreme court for transmittal to the civil court of the city of New York or a city, municipal or district court, or for certifying a copy of an order for use in a division of the clerk's office or for transmittal to a city or county treasurer;
5. for docketing of a return of execution, satisfied, unsatisfied or partially satisfied;
6. for filing a notice or order continuing or cancelling a notice of pendency of action or a notice of attachment against real property; and
7. for discharging a judgment of record by deposit with the clerk.
§ 8020 N.Y.C.P.L.R.
County clerks as clerks of court. Whenever a county clerk renders a service in his capacity as clerk of the supreme or a county court, in an action pending in such court, he is entitled to the fees specified in this section, payable in advance.
(a) Placing cause on calendar. For placing a cause on a calendar for trial or inquest, one hundred twenty-five dollars in the supreme court and county court; except that where rules of the chief administrator of the courts require that a request for judicial intervention be made in an action pending in supreme court or county court, the county clerk shall be entitled to a fee of ninety-five dollars, payable before a judge may be assigned pursuant to such request, and thereafter, for placing such a cause on a calendar for trial or inquest, the county clerk shall be entitled to an additional fee of thirty dollars, and no other fee may be charged thereafter pursuant to this subdivision; except that the county clerk shall be entitled to a fee of forty-five dollars upon the filing of each motion or cross motion in such action. However, no fee shall be imposed for a motion which seeks leave to proceed as a poor person pursuant to subdivision (a) of section eleven hundred one of this chapter.
(b) Calendar fee for transferred cause, joint trial, retrial, or separate trial. Where a cause which has been placed upon a calendar is transferred before trial to a court for which a larger calendar fee is prescribed, the difference in calendar fee shall be paid at the time the cause is placed upon the calendar of the latter court, except that no additional fee shall be required when the action is transferred for the purpose of consolidation or trial jointly with another action. No separate calendar fee shall be imposed for a retrial of a cause or for the trial of a separate issue in a cause.
(c) Filing demand for jury trial. For filing a demand for a jury trial in the following counties, where the right to a jury trial is duly demanded:
1. in the counties within the city of New York, sixty-five dollars in the supreme court;
2. in all other counties, sixty-five dollars in the supreme court and county court.
(d) Filing a stipulation of settlement or a voluntary discontinuance. For filing a stipulation of settlement pursuant to rule twenty-one hundred four of this chapter or a notice, stipulation, or certificate pursuant to subdivision (d) of rule thirty-two hundred seventeen of this chapter, the defendant shall file and pay: 1. in the counties within the city of New York, thirty-five dollars in the supreme court. 2. in all other counties, thirty-five dollars in the supreme court and county court. Provided, however, that only one such fee shall be charged for each notice, stipulation or certificate filed pursuant to this subdivision.
(e) Jury fee for transferred cause, joint trial, retrial or separate trial. Where a cause in which a jury has been demanded is transferred before trial to a court for which a larger jury fee is prescribed, the difference in the jury fee shall be paid at the time the cause is placed upon the calendar of the latter court, except that no additional fee shall be required when the action is transferred for the purpose of consolidation or trial jointly with another action in which a jury fee has previously been paid. No separate jury fee shall be imposed for a retrial of a cause or for the trial of a separate issue in a cause.
(f) Certification, exemplification, and copies of papers.
1. For issuing any certificate, in counties within the city of New York, eight dollars, and in all other counties, four dollars, except as otherwise expressly provided in this article.
2. For a certificate of exemplification, exclusive of certification, in counties within the city of New York, twenty-five dollars, and in all other counties, ten dollars.
(g) Searches. For certifying to a search of any court records for a consecutive two-year period or fraction thereof, for each name so searched, five dollars.
(h) Production of court records. For each day or part thereof in attendance in any action pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum, twenty dollars, and in addition thereto, mileage fees of twelve cents per mile each way and the necessary expenses of the messenger, except that if the subpoena duces tecum be served within the city of New York, and the place of attendance is within the city of New York, then actual transportation costs shall be charged instead of the mileage fees.