POOR PERSONS
The Sections of Article 11 of the CPLR of New York:
NY CPLR § 1101. MOTION FOR PERMISSION TO PROCEED AS A POOR PERSON; AFFIDAVIT; CERTIFICATE; NOTICE; WAIVER OF FEE; WHEN MOTION NOT REQUIRED
(a) MOTION; AFFIDAVIT. Upon motion of any person, the court in which an action is triable, or to which an appeal has been or will be taken, may grant permission to proceed as a poor person. Where a motion for leave to appeal as a poor person is brought to the court in which an appeal has been or will be taken, such court shall hear such motion on the merits and shall not remand such motion to the trial court for consideration. The moving party shall file an affidavit setting forth the amount and sources of his or her income and listing his or her property with its value; that he or she is unable to pay the costs, fees and expenses necessary to prosecute or defend the action or to maintain or respond to the appeal; the nature of the action; sufficient facts so that the merit of the contentions can be ascertained; and whether any other person is beneficially interested in any recovery sought and, if so, whether every such person is unable to pay such costs, fees and expenses. An executor, administrator or other representative may move for permission on behalf of a deceased, infant or incompetent poor person.
(b) CERTIFICATE. The court may require the moving party to file with the affidavit a certificate of an attorney stating that the attorney has examined the action and believes there is merit to the moving party’s contentions.
(c) NOTICE. Except as provided in subdivisions (d) and (e) of this section, if an action has already been commenced, notice of the motion shall be served on all parties, and notice shall also be given to the county attorney in the county in which the action is triable or the corporation counsel if the action is triable in the city of New York.
(d) WAIVER OF FEE. [Eff. until Sept. 1, 2017, pursuant to L.1999, c. 412, pt. D, § 4 . See, also, subd. (d) below.] WAIVER OF FEE in certain cases. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (f) of this section, if applicable, a plaintiff may seek to commence his or her action without payment of the fee required by filing the form affidavit, attesting that such plaintiff is unable to pay the costs, fees and expenses necessary to prosecute or defend the action, which shall be available in the clerk’s office along with the summons and complaint or summons with notice or third-party summons and complaint. The case will be given an index number, or, in courts other than the supreme or county courts, any necessary filing number and the application will be submitted to a judge of the court. If the court approves the application, the plaintiff will by written order be given notice that all fees and costs relating to the filing and service shall be waived. If the court denies the application the plaintiff will by written order be given notice that the case will be dismissed if the fee is not paid within one hundred twenty days of the date of the order.
(d) WAIVER OF FEE. [Eff. Sept. 1, 2017. See, also, subd. (d) above.] WAIVER OF FEE in certain cases. A plaintiff may seek to commence his or her action without payment of the fee required by filing the form affidavit, attesting that such plaintiff is unable to pay the costs, fees and expenses necessary to prosecute or defend the action, which shall be available in the clerk’s office along with the summons and complaint or summons with notice or third-party summons and complaint. The case will be given an index number, or, in courts other than the supreme or county courts, any necessary filing number and the application will be submitted to a judge of the court. If the court approves the application, the plaintiff will by written order be given notice that all fees and costs relating to the filing and service shall be waived. If the court denies the application the plaintiff will by written order be given notice that the case will be dismissed if the fee is not paid within one hundred twenty days of the date of the order.
(e) WHEN MOTION NOT REQUIRED. Where a party is represented in a civil action by a legal aid society or a legal services or other nonprofit organization, which has as its primary purpose the furnishing of legal services to indigent persons, or by private counsel working on behalf of or under the auspices of such society or organization, all fees and costs relating to the filing and service shall be waived without the necessity of a motion and the case shall be given an index number, or, in a court other than the supreme or county court, an appropriate filing number, provided that a determination has been made by such society, organization or attorney that such party is unable to pay the costs, fees and expenses necessary to prosecute or defend the action, and that an attorney’s certification that such determination has been made is filed with the clerk of the court along with the summons and complaint or summons with notice or third-party summons and complaint or otherwise provided to the clerk of the court. Where an attorney certifies, pursuant to section eleven hundred eighteen of the family court act , and in accordance with procedures of the appropriate appellate division, that a party or child who is the subject of an appeal has been represented in the family court by assigned counsel or by a legal aid society or a legal services or other nonprofit organization, which has as its primary purpose the furnishing of legal services to indigent persons, or by private counsel working on behalf of or under the auspices of such society or organization, and, in the case of a counsel assigned to an adult party, that the party continues to be indigent, the party or child shall be presumed eligible for poor person relief pursuant to this section.
(f) FEE FOR INMATES. [Expires Sept. 1, 2017, pursuant to L.1999, c. 412, pt. D, § 4 .] Fees for inmates.
- Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a federal, state or local inmate under sentence for conviction of a crime may seek to commence his or her action or proceeding by paying a reduced filing fee as provided in paragraph two of this subdivision. Such inmate shall file the form affidavit referred to in subdivision (d) of this section along with the summons and complaint or summons with notice or third-party summons and complaint or petition or notice of petition or order to show cause. As part of such application, the inmate shall indicate the name and mailing address of the facility at which he or she is confined along with the name and mailing address of any other federal, state or local facility at which he or she was confined during the preceding six month period. The case will be given an index number if applicable, or, in courts other than the supreme or county courts, any necessary filing number and the application will be submitted to a judge of the court. Upon receipt of the application, the court shall obtain from the appropriate official of the facility at which the inmate is confined a certified copy of the inmate’s trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for the six month period preceding filing of the inmate’s application. If the inmate has been confined for less than six months at such facility, the court shall obtain additional information as follows:
- (i) in the case of a state inmate who has been transferred from another state correctional facility, the court shall obtain a trust fund account statement for the six month period from the central office of the department of corrections and community supervision in Albany; or
- (ii) in the case of a state inmate who is newly transferred from a federal or local correctional facility, the court shall obtain any trust fund account statement currently available from such facility. The court may, in its discretion, seek further information from the prior or current facility.
- If the court determines that the inmate has insufficient means to pay the full filing fee, the court may permit the inmate to pay a reduced filing fee, the minimum of which shall not be less than fifteen dollars and the maximum of which shall not be more than fifty dollars. The court shall require an initial payment of such portion of the reduced filing fee as the inmate can reasonably afford or shall authorize no initial payment of the fee if exceptional circumstances render the inmate unable to pay any fee; provided however, that the difference between the amount of the reduced filing fee and the amount paid by the inmate in the initial partial payment shall be assessed against the inmate as an outstanding obligation to be collected either by the superintendent or the municipal official of the facility at which the inmate is confined, as the case may be, in the same manner that mandatory surcharges are collected as provided for in subdivision five of section 60.35 of the penal law . The court shall notify the superintendent or the municipal official of the facility where the inmate is housed of the amount of the reduced filing fee that was not directed to be paid by the inmate. Thereafter, the superintendent or the municipal official shall forward to the court any fee obligations that have been collected, provided however, that:
- (i) in no event shall the filing fee collected exceed the amount of fees required for the commencement of an action or proceeding; and
- (ii) in no event shall an inmate be prohibited from proceeding for the reason that the inmate has no assets and no means by which to pay the initial partial filing fee.
- The institution at which an inmate is confined, or the central office for the department of corrections and community supervision, whichever is applicable, shall promptly provide the trust fund account statement to the inmate as required by this subdivision.
- Whenever any federal, state or local inmate obtains a judgment in connection with any action or proceeding which exceeds the amount of the filing fee, paid in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision for commencing such action or proceeding, the court shall award to the prevailing inmate, as a taxable disbursement, the actual amount of any fee paid to commence the action or proceeding.
- The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a proceeding commenced pursuant to article seventy-eight of this chapter which alleges a failure to correctly award or certify jail time credit due an inmate, in violation of section six hundred-a of the correction law and section 70.30 of the penal law .
NY CPLR § 1102. PRIVILEGES OF POOR PERSON
(a) Attorney. The court in its order permitting a person to proceed as a poor person may assign an attorney.
(b) Stenographic transcript. Where a party has been permitted by order to appeal as a poor person, the court clerk, within two days after the filing of said order with him, shall so notify the court stenographer, who, within twenty days of such notification shall make and certify two typewritten transcripts of the stenographic minutes of said trial or hearing, and shall deliver one of said transcripts to the poor person or his attorney, and file the other with the court clerk together with an affidavit of the fact and date of such delivery and filing. The expense of such transcripts shall be a county charge or, in the counties within the city of New York, a city charge, as the case may be, payable to the stenographer out of the court fund upon the certificate of the judge presiding at the trial or hearing. A poor person may be furnished with a stenographic transcript without fee by order of the court in proceedings other than appeal, the fee therefor to be paid by the county or, in the counties within the city of New York by the city, as the case may be, in the same manner as is paid for transcripts on appeal. Notwithstanding this or any other provision of law, fees paid for stenographic transcripts with respect to those proceedings specified in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section thirty-five of the judiciary law shall be paid by the state in the manner prescribed by subdivision four of section thirty-five of the judiciary law .
(c) Appeals. On an appeal or motion for permission to appeal a poor person may submit typewritten briefs and appendices, furnishing one legible copy for each appellate justice.
(d) Costs and fees. A poor person shall not be liable for the payment of any costs or fees unless a recovery by judgment or by settlement is had in his favor in which event the court may direct him to pay out of the recovery all or part of the costs and fees, a reasonable sum for the services and expenses of his attorney and any sum expended by the county or city under subdivision (b).
NY CPLR § 1103. DISTRIBUTION OF RECOVERY IN FAVOR OF POOR PERSON
Any recovery by judgment or by settlement had in favor of a poor person, shall be paid to the clerk of the court in which the order permitting the person to proceed as a poor person was entered, to await distribution pursuant to court order.