6.3 Bonding Procedure: Application, Surety Contract, Posting, and Informational Notice

The Bonding Sequence

Outline section 3.4 lists five steps: application for bond (surety/defendant contract), collateral security, surety contract, posting the bond, and informational notice. Each step has legal requirements.

Step 1: Application for Bond

The application gathers the facts needed to decide whether to write the bond and on what terms. It is also the first part of the contract between the surety and the defendant and indemnitors.

Typical contents:

• Defendant: legal name and identifiers, residence history, employment, family ties, prior court appearances, other pending cases or holds;
• Case: court, case number, charges, bail amount and type (for example, whether the court's order permits a surety bond), and next court date;
• Indemnitors: identity, contact information, employment, assets;
• Authorizations: written consent for any consumer report on the indemnitor (FCRA; Section 3.4).

Verify before you write. Confirm the bail order and any detainers or holds. If another agency holds the defendant, posting your bond will not release them, and the family will be upset about the premium. Confirm the defendant's identity too; ORC 2937.011(E)(3) lists "confirmation of the defendant's identity" among the factors a court considers.

Who may write: only a licensed, appointed agent (ORC 3905.84), past the 180-day initial restriction (3905.85(C)), who is not writing on their own behalf (3905.932(J)), and who has no bond judgment that has gone unpaid for 60 days after appeals were exhausted, unless the full amount is on deposit with the clerk (3905.932(K)).

Step 2: Premium, Fees, and Collateral

Premium and Expense Fee

ORC 3905.93 bars executing a bond without:

1. charging the filed and approved premium rate; and
2. disclosing the expense fee that covers the agent's costs of executing the bond.

The agent may accept nothing else of value for the bond except lawful collateral and applicable documentary stamp taxes (ORC 3905.932(I)). No discounts and no extra undisclosed charges.

Collateral Security

If the agent takes collateral, ORC 3905.92(A) requires that it be:

• reasonable in relation to the bond amount;
• in an acceptable form: cash or its equivalent, a promissory note, an indemnity agreement, a real property mortgage in the name of the surety, or a Chapter 1309 (secured transactions) filing;
• documented with a written, numbered receipt describing it in detail, with copies of documents; and
• held in the surety's name, in a fiduciary capacity, separate from the agent's own assets.

Details, including the $50,000 cash rule and real-property handling, are in Section 7.2.

Step 3: The Surety Contract

The surety contract usually combines the premium agreement and the indemnity agreement (Section 6.1). Practical requirements:

• Written and signed by each indemnitor, because promises to answer for another's default must be in writing (ORC 1335.05).
• Complete before signing. The agent may not sign or countersign a bond in blank (ORC 3905.933(A)), and at courthouses and jails, OAC 3901-1-66(I)(1)(b) treats writing a bond for someone without their direct knowledge and consent as prohibited solicitation. Good practice is to complete every blank before anyone signs.
• No unlawful terms. No waiver of the collateral statute and no agreed valuation of collateral (3905.92(E)). No fees deducted from collateral or return premium unless the law authorizes them (3905.932(I)).

Step 4: Posting the Bond

What You File

Under OAC 3901-1-66(E):

1. Every surety bail bond submitted to the court or the custodian of an arrested person must be accompanied by a current, non-expired, legal power of attorney.
2. Only one power per bond, and its face value must equal or exceed the bail set for the charge or charges covered.
3. No altered or erased power; no expired power; no power used more than once.
4. No stacking: never submit more than one power for a single bond, charge, or charges assigned one number by the court (OAC 3901-1-66(D)).

You must be registered with that court's clerk if the court requires it (ORC 3905.87), and you must carry your ODI wallet ID card (ORC 3905.85(G)).

Who Takes Bail, and Where

• All bail is received by the clerk of the court, a deputy clerk, the magistrate, or a special referee appointed by the Supreme Court. Except for recognizances, a receipt is given (ORC 2937.22(C)).
• In felonies, and in assaults on peace officers under 2903.11 to 2903.13, a judge or magistrate fixes bail (ORC 2937.23(A)(1)).
• In misdemeanors, a judge, magistrate, or clerk may fix bail, including by a pre-set bail schedule. If none is readily available, the sheriff, a deputy, a marshal, a police officer, or the jailer may fix bail under the schedule, and may take it only in the county courthouse, the municipal or township building, or the county or municipal jail (ORC 2937.23(A)(2)).

The $25 Surcharge

Under ORC 2937.22(B), anyone charged with an offense other than a non-moving traffic offense who posts bail pays a $25 surcharge. The clerk holds it until disposition. It goes to the state's indigent defense support fund if the person is convicted, pleads guilty, or forfeits bail, and it is returned if the person is found not guilty or the charges are dismissed.

Step 5: Informational Notice

The outline lists "informational notice" without citing an Ohio statute, and Ohio law prescribes no single statewide form by that name. Treat it as the written information the defendant and indemnitors need to keep the bond in good standing and to understand their rights. A compliant packet includes:

Record everything. Bond records must be kept at least three years after the surety's liability ends (ORC 3905.90).