September 3, 2004 by Surety Guy
When obtaining a surety bond, you must sign an agreement of personal and corporate indemnity between the owner(s) of your company and the surety who is guaranteeing the bond.
Many clients call me telling me, “I am not signing personally, the bond is for a corporation!”. The reason for the personal indemnification is simple; if your corporation goes out of business, the surety wants to be able to go after your personal assets. All surety agreements are very similar, they state that the business and the owner(s) can be held accountable in the event of a claim.
Often, a client will tell me, “I am going to sign this agreement after my lawyer gives it the ok”. I always kindly let them know, no lawyer will tell you to sign any surety agreement without asking for some changes to be made. Unfortunately for you, the surety will not make changes to the agreement, the ball is in their court and they simply will not write the bond otherwise.
To sum it up, you will have to sign for the bond personally and corporately, your lawyer will not want you to sign it, and you have no choice if you want the surety bond.
