Title DCD, Debtor & Creditor

§ 168. Power to sue notwithstanding notice. Notwithstanding any such notice, the trustees may sue for and recover, any property or effects of the debtor, and any debts due to him, at any time, before the day appointed for the delivery or payment thereof.

§ 169. Forfeiture for failure to comply with notice. Every person\nindebted to such debtor, or having the possession or custody of any\nproperty or thing in action, belonging to him, who shall conceal the\nsame, and not deliver a just and true account of such indebtedness, or\nn…

§ 17. Invalid claims. Claims which for want of record or for other reasons would not have been valid as against the claims of creditors of the assignor shall not be liens against his estate.

§ 170. Warrant on withholding account or property. Whenever the trustees shall show by their own oath, or other competent proof, to the satisfaction of any judge of a county court, or in the county of New York any justice of the supreme court, that there is good reason to believ…

§ 171. Examination of person arrested. The judge or justice issuing such warrant, shall examine every person so brought before him, on oath, in the presence of the trustees or any of them, touching all matters relative to the debtor, his dealings and estate, and touching the det…

§ 172. Imprisonment for contumacy. If any person so brought before such judge or justice, shall refuse to be sworn, or to answer satisfactorily, all lawful questions put to him, or shall refuse to sign the examination, not having a reasonable objection thereto, to be allowed by …

§ 173. No discharge for defects of form. If any person so committed, shall bring a writ of habeas corpus, he shall not be discharged by reason of any insufficiency in the form of the warrant of commitment; but the court before whom such person shall be brought, shall re-commit s…

§ 174. Penalties for connivance at escape. Any sheriff, constable or jailer wilfully suffering any person so committed or re-committed, pursuant to the foregoing sections, to escape, on conviction thereof, in addition to any other punishment the court may inflict, shall forfeit …

§ 175. Effect of answers on examination. The person so examined, and answering to the satisfaction of the court, shall not be liable to any penalty imposed for concealing and not delivering any property, or paying any debt; but his answers on such examination, may be given in ev…

§ 176. Reward to informers. Any person who shall discover to the trustees any secreted effects, property or things in action, belonging to such debtor, so that they shall be recovered by them, shall be entitled to ten dollars on the hundred dollars, and at that rate, on the valu…

§ 177. Reference of disputed claims. If any controversy shall arise between the trustees and any other person in the settlement of any demands against such debtor, or of debts due his estate, the same may be referred to one or more indifferent persons, who may be agreed upon by …

§ 178. Application for appointment of referee. If such referee or referees be not selected by agreement, then the trustees or the other party to the controversy, provided no action at law is pending arising out of any such debts or demands, may serve a notice of their intention …

§ 179. Appointment of referee. On the day so specified, upon due proof of the service of such notice, the judge or justice before whom the application is made may in his discretion proceed to select one or more referees, the same in all respects as they are now selected accordin…

§ 18. Effect of orders; power of judge and duties of clerk. All orders or decrees in proceedings under this article shall have the same force and effect, and may be entered, docketed and enforced and appealed from the same as if made in an original action brought in the court in…

§ 180. Entry of order of reference. The judge or justice by whom they shall be selected, shall certify such selection in writing. Such certificate, or the written agreement of the parties, shall be filed by the trustees in the office of the clerk where the order appointing the t…

§ 181. Powers, duties and compensation of referees. Such referees shall have the same powers, and be subject to the like duties and obligations, and shall receive the same compensation, as referees appointed by the supreme court, in actions pending therein.

§ 182. Filing and effect of referees' report. The report of the referees shall be filed in the same office where the order for their appointment was entered, and shall be conclusive on the rights of the parties, if not set aside by the court.

§ 183. Commission to take testimony out of county. When any witness to such controversy shall reside out of the county where the said trustees resided at the time of their appointment, the referee or referees appointed to hear said controversy shall have power to issue a commiss…

§ 184. Sale of property and accounts of trustees. The trustees shall, as speedily as possible, convert the estate, real and personal, of such debtor, into money. They shall keep a regular account of all moneys received by them as trustees; to which, every creditor, or other pers…

§ 185. Meeting of creditors and notice thereof. The trustees, within fifteen months from the time of their appointment, shall call a general meeting of the creditors of such debtor, by a notice to be published in the same manner, as hereinbefore directed respecting the publicati…

§ 186. Proceedings at creditors' meetings. At such meeting, or other adjourned meeting thereafter, all accounts and demands, for and against the estate of such debtor, shall be fairly adjusted, as far as the same can be ascertained, and the amount of moneys in the hands of the t…

§ 187. Payment of disbursements and commissions of trustees. Out of the moneys in their hands, the trustees may first deduct all the necessary disbursements made by them in the discharge of their duty, and a commission at the rate of five per centum on the whole sum which shall …

§ 188. Preferred debts. They shall pay all debts due by such debtor to the United States, and all debts due by him to persons who, by the laws of the United States, have a preference in consequence of having paid money as sureties of such debtor.

§ 189. Distribution of moneys. They shall distribute the residue of the moneys in their hands, among all those who shall have exhibited their claims as creditors, and whose debts shall have been ascertained, in proportion to their respective demands, and without giving any prefe…

§ 19. Sale and compromise of claims and property. The judge may, upon the application of the assignee and for good and sufficient cause shown, and upon such terms as he may direct, authorize the assignee to sell, compromise or compound any claim or debt belonging to the estate o…

§ 190. Preference of debts owing by debtor as trustee. In making such distribution, the trustees shall first pay all debts that may be owing by the debtor as guardian, executor, administrator or trustee; and if there be not sufficient to pay all debts of the character above spec…

§ 191. Payment of debts before maturity. Every person to whom a debtor, except one proceeding under the fifth article, shall be indebted on a valuable consideration, for any sum of money not due at the time of such distribution, but payable afterwards, shall receive his proporti…

§ 192. Set-off of mutual debts or credits. Where mutual credit has been given by any debtor, except a debtor proceeding under the fifth article of this chapter, and any other person, or mutual debts have subsisted between such debtor and any other person, the trustees may set of…

§ 193. No set-off in certain cases. No set-off shall be allowed by such trustees, of any claim or debt, which shall have been purchased by, or transferred to, the person claiming its allowance, which could not have been set off by him, according to the provisions of this article…

§ 194. Provision for pending actions. If, at the time any dividend is made, any action or proceeding be pending against the trustees, in which a demand against such debtor may be established, the trustees may retain in their hands, the proportion which would belong to such deman…

§ 194-a. Provision for contingent or unliquidated liabilities. If, at the time any dividend is made, there shall be a contingent or unliquidated claim against the debtor or an outstanding bond, recognizance or undertaking upon which the debtor shall have been principal, surety o…

§ 195. Penalties recovered. All penalties which shall be recovered by any trustees, pursuant to the provisions of this article, shall be deemed a part of the estate of the debtor, and shall be distributed as such among his creditors.

§ 196. Subsequent dividends. If the whole of such debtor's estate be not distributed on the first dividend, the trustees shall, within one year thereafter, make a second dividend of all the moneys belonging to the estate of the debtor, then in their hands, among the creditors en…

§ 197. Provision for neglectful creditors. Any creditor who shall have neglected to deliver to the trustees an account of his demand, before the first, second, third or other dividend, and who shall deliver his account to them before the second, or other subsequent dividend, sha…

§ 198. Unclaimed dividends. If any dividend that shall have been declared, shall remain unclaimed by the person entitled thereto for one year after the same was declared, the trustees shall consider it as relinquished, and shall distribute it, on any subsequent dividend, among t…

§ 199. Disposition of surplus. If after settling the estate of any debtor, and after discharging his debts, entitled to a dividend, any surplus shall remain in the hands of his trustees, the same shall be paid to such debtor or his legal representatives.

§ 2. Jurisdiction of proceedings. The term "judge" when used in this article shall apply equally to a county judge of the county within which the assignment is recorded and to justices of the supreme court, and the term "court" when used in this article shall, in like manner, ap…

§ 20. General powers of court. Any proceeding under this article shall be deemed for all purposes, including review by appeal or otherwise, to be a proceeding had in the court as a court of general jurisdiction, and the court shall have full jurisdiction to do all and every act …

§ 200. Allowance to debtor. Every debtor who shall be discharged under\nthe third or fourth articles of this chapter shall be allowed the sum of\nfive per centum on the net produce of all his estate, that shall be\nreceived by the assignees, to be paid to him by them, in case su…

§ 201. Accounting by trustees. Within ten days after any dividend made by any trustees, they shall render on oath and file with the clerk of the court where the order appointing them was entered an account in writing of all their proceedings in the premises, stating: 1. Their di…

§ 202. Trustees subject to order of court. Such trustees shall be subject to the order of the supreme court, and of the county court of the county in which they were appointed, upon the application of any creditor, or of any debtor in respect to whom they were appointed, in rela…

§ 203. Appointment of substitute trustee. Whenever any trustee shall be removed, or shall die, or become incapacitated to perform his duties, the court which originally appointed such trustee, after giving notice, and an opportunity to the creditors to propose proper persons, ma…

§ 204. Application by trustee for leave to renounce. Any trustee appointed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter who shall be desirous of renouncing the trust vested in him, may apply to the court from whom his appointment was received, for an order to all persons intereste…

§ 205. Account upon application. Such application shall be accompanied by a full, true and just account of all the transactions of such trustees, in that character, and particularly of the property, moneys and effects received by him; of all payments made, whether to creditors o…

§ 206. Verification of account. To such account shall be annexed the affidavit of the trustee, that the said account is in all respects just and true, according to the best of his knowledge and belief.

§ 207. Order to show cause. The court shall thereupon grant an order, directing notice to be given to all persons interested in the estate of the debtor, in respect to whom or whose estate such trustee was appointed, to show cause on a day, or at a term and at a place therein to…

§ 208. Publication of notice. Such notice shall be published, once in each week, for four weeks successively, in such newspapers, as such court shall direct.

§ 209. Hearing. On the day appointed for such hearing, and on such other days as shall from time to time be appointed, if it shall appear that notice was duly published, the court shall proceed to hear the proofs and allegations of the parties.

§ 21. Trial, costs and commissions. The court, in its discretion, may order a trial by jury or before a referee, of any disputed claim or matter arising under the provisions of this article. It may in its discretion award reasonable counsel fees and costs, determine which party …

§ 21-a. Company pension plans; deductions from wages trust moneys; preference. Moneys contributed from wages or salary by an employee or former employee under any retirement system or plan maintained or operated by a domestic corporation, association, co-partnership or joint-sto…