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What Are the Responsibilities
of a
Co-signer on a Bail Bond?
Before you choose to co-sign on a bond, you should be aware of a few things:
- Your liability includes the full amount of the bond.
- If there is a breach of the bond and the bondsman is required to pay the full bond to the county, you can (and probably will) be liable to repay the full amount of the forfeited bond.
- Many Florida counties require that a bond agent hire an attorney and pay court costs if a defendant on bail misses court, even if he was returned to jail in a matter of days.
- If co-signers do not reimburse the bail agent, in all likelihood they will be sued in court; or, if co-signers put up any tangible property (a house or a car, for example), they risk losing that property.
It is important for cosigners to remain in contact with the person they have signed for. If, as a co-signer, you think that person may be a risk to flee, do not co-sign. If you co-sign on a person's bond and later feel that the person has become a flight risk, you may ask the bail agent return the defendant to jail and revoke his or her bond. When the bond is revoked and the defendant is back in custody, the co-signer's liability ends.