Notifying the County Clerk to Take an Action

Q. If an Order or Judgment directs the County Clerk to modify any of its indexes, what do I do?

A. Civil Practice Law and Rules 8019(c) requires that you submit a Notice to the Suffolk County Clerk and include a copy of the Order or Judgment which contains that directive.  A requirement in the Order or Judgment to serve the County Clerk with Notice of Entry will not be sufficient to have the directive executed.  In a hard copy case, this CPLR Notice must be submitted to the Suffolk County Clerk by mail to the Suffolk County Clerk, 310 Center Drive, Riverhead, New York 11901 or in-person at 300 Center Drive, Riverhead, New York.  A copy of the form can be found here.  

Any change to the County Clerk’s Court Minutes index (i.e. caption change, sealing order, venue change, etc.) must be submitted to the Court Actions Department.  Where a submission is to be made to the Court Actions Department in an E-filed case, the CPLR Notice and the Order or Judgment must be uploaded to the case via NYSCEF as one PDF under the doc type Notice to County Clerk – CPLR 8019(c).

Changes to the indexes affecting the land, judgment or lien records must be sent to the Recording or Judgments & Liens Departments in hard copy by mail as appropriate.  Submissions to these Departments requires that the copy of the Order or Judgment be certified.  There is no fee for a certified copy in this case.  If being submitted to the Recording Department, you would also need to pay any recording fees and include the Suffolk County endorsement page and the property description which must be verified by the Real Property Tax Service Agency which charges a fee of $200 per tax lot.

Q. If I have a Stipulation which amends the caption of a case, vacates a judgment, transfers venue or cancels a Notice of Pendency, how do I notify the County Clerk?

A. If you have a Stipulation or Affirmation to cancel a Notice of Pendency, transfer venue or vacate a money judgment as permitted or required by law or rule, you must notify the Suffolk County Clerk using the following form located here. This form and a copy of the previously filed document canceling the Notice of Pendency (showing the filed stamp), vacating the money judgment or transferring venue (reflecting it was previously filed into the case with the Suffolk County Clerk) is to be uploaded to NYSCEF as a Notice To County Clerk CPLR 8019(c) as one PDF. 

If you have a Stipulation amending the caption or the caption was amended as of right, you must use the following form located here. This form, along with the document amending the caption (previously filed Stipulation or Supplemental/Amended Summons or Petition), is part of an electronically filed case, the Notice and filed copy of the operative document (reflecting it was previously filed into the case with the Suffolk County Clerk) must be uploaded to NYSCEF as Notice To County Clerk – Amendment to Caption as one PDF.  In a hard copy case, mail the completed Notice along with a filed copy of the operative document to the Suffolk County Clerk, 310 Center Drive, Riverhead, New York 11901, Attn:  Court Actions.

If you have any additional questions, please email the County Clerk at courtactions@suffolkcountyny.gov.