North Carolina Laws Regarding Bail Bonds & Bounty Hunters
Below is basic information on bail bond laws for North Carolina concerning Bail Enforcement, Bounty Hunters, Fugitive Apprehension and Bail Bondsman. This is not legal advice. Laws change frequently, please check the links provided for possible updates and current information.
- Bail bond law state statutes:
- West’s North Carolina General Statutes Annotated Chapter 15a. Criminal Procedure Act Subchapter V. Custody Article 26. Bail Part 1. General Provisions.
West’s North Carolina General Statutes Annotated Chapter 15a. Criminal Procedure Act Subchapter V. Custody Article 26. Bail Part 2. Bail Bond Forfeiture
West’s North Carolina General Statutes Annotated Chapter 58. Insurance Article 71. Bail Bondsmen And Runners.
New Legislation – 1999 North Carolina Senate Bill No. 1267, North Carolina 1999 General Assembly – Second Session Introduced Version Date May 17, 2000
SAME AS: House Bill No. 1607 – § 9. This act becomes effective January 1, 2001, and applies to all bail bonds executed and all forfeiture proceedings initiated on and after that date.
- Licensing requirements for Bail agents:
- The North Carolina statutes contain numerous detailed licensing provisions for bail agents and “runners” (defined below). Only the most relevant sections are listed below, with references to other relevant sections.
West’s North Carolina General Statutes Annotated Chapter 58. Insurance Article 71. Bail Bondsmen And Runners § 58-71-1. Definitions
(3) “Bail bondsman” shall mean a surety bondsman, professional bondsman or an accommodation bondsman as hereinafter defined.
(8) “Professional bondsman” shall mean any person who is approved and licensed by the Commissioner and who pledges cash or approved securities with the Commissioner as security for bail bonds written in connection with a judicial proceeding and receives or is promised money or other things of value therefore.
(9) “Runner” shall mean a person employed by a bail bondsman for the purpose of assisting the bail bondsman in presenting the defendant in court when required, or to assist in apprehension and surrender of defendant to the court, or keeping defendant under necessary surveillance, or to execute bonds on behalf of the licensed bondsman when the power of attorney has been duly recorded. “Runner” does not include, however, a duly licensed attorney-at-law or a law-enforcement officer assisting a bondsman.
(9a) “Supervising bail bondsman” means any person licensed by the Commissioner as a professional bondsman or surety bondsman who employs or contracts with any new licensee under this Article.
(10) “Surety” shall mean one who, with the principal, is liable for the amount of the bail bond upon forfeiture of bail.
(11) “Surety bondsman” means any person who is licensed by the Commissioner as a surety bondsman under this Article, is appointed by an insurer by power of attorney to execute or countersign bail bonds for the insurer in connection with judicial proceedings, and receives or is promised consideration for doing so.§ 58-71-40. Bail bondsmen and runners to be qualified and licensed; license applications generally
- (a) No person shall act in the capacity of a bail bondsman or runner or perform any of the functions, duties, or powers prescribed for bail bondsmen or runners under the provisions of this Article unless that person shall be qualified and (except as regards an accommodation bondsman) licensed in accordance with the provisions of this Article. No license shall be issued to a professional bondsman or runner except to an individual natural person.
§ 58-71-41. First-year licensees; limitations
§ 58-71-45. Terms of licenses
- A license issued to a bail bondsman or to a runner authorizes the licensee to act in that capacity until the license is suspended or revoked. Upon the suspension or revocation of a license, the licensee shall return the license to the Commissioner. A license of a bail bondsman and a license of a runner shall be renewed on July 1 of each year upon payment of the applicable renewal fee under G.S. 58-71-75. The Commissioner is not required to print renewal licenses. After notifying the Commissioner in writing, a professional bondsman who employs a runner may cancel the runner’s license and the runner’s authority to act for the professional bondsman.
§ 58-71-50. Qualification for bail bondsmen and runners
- (a) An applicant for a license as a bail bondsman or runner shall furnish the Commissioner with a complete set of the applicant’s fingerprints and a recent passport size full-face photograph of the applicant. The applicant’s fingerprints shall be certified by an authorized law-enforcement officer. The fingerprints of every applicant shall be forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation for a search of the applicant’s criminal history record file, if any. If warranted, the State Bureau of Investigation shall forward a set of the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. An applicant shall pay the cost of the State and any national criminal history record check of the applicant.
(b) Every applicant for a license under this Article as a bail bondsman or runner must meet all of the following qualifications:-
(1) Be 18 years of age or over.
(2) Be a resident of this State.
(3) Repealed by S.L. 1998-211, § 23, eff. Nov. 1, 1998.
(4) Have knowledge, training, or experience of sufficient duration and extent to provide the competence necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of a licensee.
(5) Have no outstanding bail bond obligations.
(6) Have no current or prior violations of any provision of this Article or of Article 26 of Chapter 15A of the General Statutes or of any similar provision of law of any other state.
(7) Not have been in any manner disqualified under the laws of this State or any other state to engage in the bail bond business.§ 58-71-55. License fees
- A nonrefundable license fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) shall be paid to the Commissioner with each application for license as a bail bondsman and a license fee of sixty dollars ($60.00) shall be paid to the Commissioner with each application for license as a runner.
§ 58-71-65. Contents of application for runner’s license; endorsement by professional bondsman
-
In addition to the other requirements of this Article, an applicant for a license to be a runner must affirmatively show:
-
(1) That the applicant will be employed by only one professional bondsman, who will supervise the work of the applicant and be responsible for the runner’s conduct in the bail bond business.
(2) That the application is endorsed by the appointing professional bondsman, who must agree in the application to supervise the runner’s activities.
(3) Whether or not the applicant has ever been licensed as a bail bondsman or runner. An applicant who has been licensed as a bail bondsman must list all outstanding bail bond obligations. An applicant who has been licensed as a runner must list all prior employment as such, indicating the name of each supervising professional bondsman and the reasons for the termination of the employment.§ 58-71-70. Examination and examination fees
§ 58-71-71. Examination; educational requirements; penalties
§ 58-71-75. Renewal fees
§ 58-71-82. Dual license holding
§ 58-71-125. Persons eligible as runners; bail bondsmen to annually report runners; notices of appointments and terminations; information confidential
§ 58-71-140. Registration of licenses and power of appointments by insurers - Bail agent’s arrest authority.
- West’s North Carolina General Statutes Annotated Chapter 15a. Criminal Procedure Act Subchapter V. Custody Article 26. Bail Part 1. General Provisions § 15A-540. Surrender of a principal by a surety; setting new conditions of release
- (a) A surety may surrender his principal to the sheriff of the county in which the principal is bonded to appear or to the sheriff where the defendant was bonded. A surety may arrest his principal for the purpose of returning him to the sheriff. Upon surrender of the principal the sheriff must provide a receipt to the surety, a copy of which must be filed with the clerk.
New Legislation – 1999 North Carolina Senate Bill No. 1267, North Carolina 1999 General Assembly – Second Session Introduced Version Date May 17, 2000. “Section 15A-540. Surrender of a <<- principal ->> <<+ defendant +>> by a surety; setting new conditions of release.
-
(a) A surety may surrender his principal to the sheriff of the county in which the principal is bonded to appear or to the sheriff where the defendant was bonded. A surety may arrest his principal for the purpose of returning him to the sheriff. Upon surrender of the principal the sheriff must provide a receipt to the surety, a copy of which must be filed with the clerk. Upon application by the surety after the surrender of the principal, before the forfeiture of bail under G.S. 15A-544(b), the clerk must exonerate him from his bond.
(b) A principal surrendered by his surety is entitled to an immediate hearing on whether he is again entitled to release and, if so, upon what conditions.
(c) Going Off the Bond Before Breach.–Before there has been a breach of the conditions of a bail bond, the surety may surrender the defendant as provided in G.S. 58-71-20. Upon application by the surety after such surrender, the clerk must exonerate the surety from the bond.
(d) Surrender After Breach of Condition.–After there has been a breach of the conditions of a bail bond, a surety may surrender the defendant as provided in this subsection. A surety may arrest the defendant for the purpose of returning the defendant to the sheriff. After arresting a defendant the surety may surrender the defendant to the sheriff of the county in which the defendant is bonded to appear, or to the sheriff where the defendant was bonded. Alternatively, a surety may surrender a defendant who is already in the custody of any sheriff by appearing in person and informing the sheriff that the surety wishes to surrender the defendant. Before surrendering a defendant to a sheriff, the surety must provide the sheriff with a certified copy of the bail bond. Upon surrender of the defendant the sheriff shall provide a receipt to the surety. - Bounty hunter (fugitive apprehension) provisions:
- Bounty Hunters go by the title of “Runner” in North Carolina law, defined as “a person employed by a bail bondsman for the purpose of assisting the bail bondsman in presenting the defendant in court when required, or to assist in apprehension and surrender of defendant to the court…” Bounty Hunting is legal in North Carolina and is governed by the above regulations.
- Links to State and Local Authorities:
Please check with the North Carolina’s Department of Insurance, Licensing Board and/or Local Law Enforcement for the most recent updates. If you know of any updates to North Carolina’s bail bond laws, please provide as much detail as possible and send to us using our contact form.
