Surety Bond Blog » Court Bonds

Nebraska Conservator Bond Update

Eric Weisbrot — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:48:39 +0000

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.

Public Officials Blindly Writing Surety Law

Eric Weisbrot — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:41:24 +0000

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.

The new bill is named HB 1951 and allows non-Treasury listed surety companies to issue bonds up to $1,000,000 without proof of reinsurance. Although Texas sureties don’t need to be registered with the Department of Treasury now, they need to write bonds within the limits of 10% of their capital and surplus and still must write within state regulatory limits. The new bill doesn’t seem to hurt or improve anything, so what’s the reason for it?

The main issue here is legislators writing laws for industries they no little to nothing about. This kind of ignorance can create negative repercussions and can affect any industry in the country. Whatever the reasons are that made the authors write this bill are it seems that they don’t have enough knowledge of the surety business to be doing so. A close eye should be kept on legislatures and officials when they are making changes that affect whole industries.

New Hampshire Executor Bond

Eric Weisbrot — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:51:25 +0000

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.