Bondsmen representing surety and fidelity insurers must be licensed. To become licensed, the resident applicant must take the limited lines property and casualty exam and hold the Surety, Limited Lines P&C, or full P&C line of authority, as well as an active fidelity & surety appointment with each insurer.

Such bondsmen must obtain and maintain prior approval of their financial status and business character by each court and jurisdiction in which they operate. Each jurisdiction has its own registration forms, requirements, and procedures. You will need to contact each jurisdiction to determine requirements.

Bondsmen may not delegate their signature authority to any other person nor delegate the court's prior approval. The bondsmen may utilize non-licensed employees (runners) to perform certain services (i.e. defendant surveillance, delivering defendants to court, delivering bonds to court, etc.), but such employees cannot solicit the bonds nor take application.

Licensed bondsmen may employ solicitors; however, the solicitors must be licensed, and sponsored by the bondsman. The solicitor may perform all acts of the licensed bondsman except that the solicitor cannot bind the surety company (i.e. sign a bond in the place of, or on behalf of, the sponsoring licensed bondsman).

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