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Offices |
Surety Bonds If the magistrate or municipal judge finds that an unconditional release would create an unreasonable risk of flight or would create a risk to the community, and also finds that a secured bond is the best condition suited for the case, the defendant may be released with one of several kinds of surety. 1. The defendant may obtain a commercial surety. A list of licensed bondsman with telephone numbers is made available to all detainees. Professional bondsmen can charge a fee of up to 15% of the bond. This fee is not refundable, even if the defendant is ultimately found not guilty of the offense with which he is charged. 2. The defendant may find friends or relatives who can act as surety for him. Any unlicensed person who signs such a surety bond is referred to as an accommodation bondsman. Section 38-53-10(1) of the South Carolina Code of Laws defines an accommodation bondsman as follows: "'Accommodation Bondsman' means a person who has reached the age of eighteen years, is a resident of this State, who, aside from love and affection and release of the person concerned, receives no consideration for action as surety, and who endorses the bail bond after providing satisfactory evidence of ownership, value, and marketability of real property to the extent necessary to reasonably satisfy the official taking bond that the real or personal property will in all respects be sufficient to assure that the full principal sum of the bond will be realized in the event of breach of the conditions of the bond. 'Consideration' as used in this item does not include the legal rights of a surety against a defendant by reason of breach of the conditions of a bail bond nor does it include collateral furnished to and securing the surety so long as the value of the surety's rights in the collateral does not exceed the defendant's liability to the surety by reason of a breach in the conditions of the bail bond." The magistrate court at the Spartanburg County Detention Center has access to the assessor's tax records for Spartanburg County. Anyone owning real estate in Spartanburg County who wants to act as an accommodation bondsman can go to the magistrate court's office in the Detention Center and file an application. The clerk will access the assessor's records and determine the assessed value of any real estate owned. After deducting the value of any liens, judgments, other outstanding bonds, and the homestead exemption, the clerk will determine the amount of bond that can be signed. Anyone wishing to act as an accommodation bondsman should go to the magistrate court at the Detention Center with picture identification (such as a driver's license), the address of real estate owned, and the balance of any liens and judgments owed, as well as a list of any other bail bonds on which he is presently obligated. 3. The defendant is entitled to post a cash bond in an amount equal to the amount of the bond set by the judge. South Carolina law, however, does not permit any judge to require that a bond be in cash. 4. In lieu of requiring the full amount of the bond, the judge may permit the defendant to deposit cash in an amount not exceeding 10% of the bond set. The defendant would still be obligated in the full amount of the bond if it were breached.
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