What are my obligations as an Indemnitor?
An entity/person who enters an agreement with a surety to hold the surety harmless from loss incurred as a result of issuing a contract bond to an applicant who falls just short of acceptability. If the principal defaults, the indemnitor, rather than the surety, assumes the obligation.
Bail Bonds companies almost always get an indemnitor to sign for a defendant’s bail. Since the bail bonds company is putting up the bail bonds, they want to make all the efforts possible to cover their responsibilities for that bail.
Indemnitors are also usually required to be in good standing with their credit report, be financially stable, and be employed. It’s also a good idea to have the indemnitor be either related to the defendant or a close friend. This is because they bail bonds agent wants an ally to the responsibilities of having the defendant attend all of the court dates and finish the case.
If the defendant absconds or skips bail, the first thing the bail bonds company will do is start calling the phone numbers for the defendant, if he is unreachable, the next thing the agent will do is call the indemnitor.
Also, if the defendant is making payments for the bail bond and misses one, the bail agent will also call the indemnitor.
The indemnitor basically in a contract that mostly equals the responsibilities of the defendant except that the indemnitor does not have to attend the court sessions.
More information about the bail bonds process
The Indemnitor is financially responsible for the entire bond amount until the court case is discharged. As long as the court case is discharged, the liability of the indemnitor is lifted. It is suggested that you, the indemnitor, also play an active role in the court case to ensure that the defendant attends court as requested.
