Surety Bond News

Nebraska State enacted a change to an existing surety bond requirement, this time relating to court bonds. The requirement is titled LB 157 and it revises the original surety bond amount required of conservators. The previous law allowed the court to require a bond from a conservator while also giving the court the ability to establish the bond amount. This revision to the old law only requires a bond for estates priced over $10,000 within the state; the court still has the power to decide whether a bond is necessary and has the option to tweak the bond amount for “good cause shown”.

In the state of Wyoming, there were a couple changes when it comes to surety bonds in the last few months. The first change concerns circuit court judges and magistrates. A new law, named HB 123 repeals the original $5,000 surety bond required of circuit court judges and the $1,000 surety bond required of magistrates. Since these small bond amounts were only covering a maximum of $5,000, this change should not have a big impact. (more…)

The State of Vermont presented new legislation relating to the executor of an estate. The new law is labeled HB 461 and states that the judge of probate would establish the amount required for the surety bond that could be acquired regarding an application for the appointment of an administrator or executor of an estate. The present law requires a surety bond at a minimum of $300, and it is conditioned on the payment of funeral costs. A receipt for the payment of such expenses may be presented in place of the surety bond. The new bill has passed the House and has now moved on to the senate.

Guardians in the State of Texas must abide by a new law referred to as HB 3080. The new law causes a guardian or temporary guardian and the surety on the bond to be responsible for any surplus compensation that the guardian or temporary guardian received if the court condensed or terminated their compensation pursuant to the new law’s stipulations that allows the court to do so under specific circumstances.

New legislation was introduced in the State of Oklahoma regarding civil litigation cases. The new law is labeled HB 1603 and caps appeal bonds in civil litigation cases at $25 million. Present legislation caps the surety bond for these cases at 100% of the judgment, exclusive of interest and expenses. The present law allows judgment debtors that can demonstrate that they will undergo considerable financial damage, as stated in the law, by having to attain the appeal bond, can have the surety bond quantity decreased. HB 1603 states that subject to these conditions, the surety bond is capped at $25 million.

Additionally, for cases concerning the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, the present cap has been modified so that the surety bond quantity can be equivalent to 10% of the net worth of the judgment debtor. The present law already capped the surety bond quantity at 100% of the judgment, excluding interest and expenses, or $25 million, whichever is less. HB 1603 caps the surety bond for tobacco cases at the least of these three quantities. The new law became active on November 1st, 2009.