Surety Bond News

Legislators in Nebraska have enacted a new law affecting conservators. The new law, which is named LB 157, changes the surety bond requirement for conservators. LB 157 states that a bond is only needed for estates worth more than $10,000. The new law will become effective January 1, 2012.

Legislatures in Texas have enacted a new law directly affecting the surety bond industry. When one looks at the changes included in the bill, it’s hard to see what it actually accomplishes; it raises the question of whether the legislators writing laws affecting the world of surety have adequate knowledge of the industry.
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Legislators in New Hampshire enacted new legislation concerning executor bonds. The new legislation is named HB 609 and states that when a person dies testate (with a valid will) and there is no surviving spouse leaving an only child as the sole beneficiary and administrator of an estate, a bond will not be required of the only child; this type of bond is meant to guarantee that the deceased’s will shall be carried out properly; in a case with an only child it’s not necessary to have a surety bond because there’s no threat of other beneficiaries in the will being deceitful.

Some changes have recently been made relating to surety bond requirements and civil court cases in Montana State. The revised requirement, which is named HB 342, boosts the cap on appeal bonds in civil cases. The original law capped the surety bond amount at $1MM when it came to businesses of 100 employees or less. The new law, HB 342, increases the appeal bond cap for these businesses to $5MM. Although the bond requirement for civil cases was changed, the cap on all other cases remains the same at $50MM. Montana’s Governor attempted to veto this bond requirement bill, but the House overruled the Governor’s veto.

Arizona State legislators recently made modifications to the state’s court bond requirements; specifically concerning appeal bonds. The new bill is named SB 1212 and modifies the cap on an appeal bond that’s required to stay the execution of a judgment in civil actions. The previous legislation required a surety bond equivalent to the full quantity of the judgment including charges, interest and any damages relating to the appeal. SB 1212 requires the bond to be equal the total quantity of damages awarded excluding punitive damages, $25 million or 50% of the appellant’s net worth, whichever is less.