Comparato v. Wegman

—Order and judgment unanimously modified on the law and as modified affirmed without costs in accordance with the following Memorandum: Supreme Court properly granted that part of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment against defendant Julie B. Wegman, but erred in denying that part of the motion against defendant Wayne F. Wegman. Where a debt is composed of several items, absent a direction by the debtor, the creditor may apply a voluntary payment by the debtor “as it sees fit and to its best advantage” (Home & City Sav. Bank v Bilinski, 177 AD2d 73 , 76; see also, Gerrity Co. v Riscica, 214 AD2d 866 , 868). Here, there was no direction by defendants concerning how the credit of $135,000, based on their conveyance of real property to plaintiff, was to be applied to reduce the total debt, which consisted of corporate and personal debt. The letter from plaintiff’s attorney dated October 22, 1997,