AUSTIN - A trial judge cannot refuse a surety’s affidavit to surrender a principal, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opined today.
Back in June, Chris Taylor, county attorney for Tom Green County, requested an AG opinion on whether a court has discretion to accept an affidavit of surety to surrender a principal and to require a bondsman to show cause for the surrender.
Taylor wrote that the county treasure has been receiving increasing complaints that bondsmen are going off bonds just because someone fell behind on paying their bill.
Taylor wanted to know what discretion a judge has in regards to a go off bond request.
Paxton opined that Occupations Code subsection 1704.207(a) and Code of Criminal Procedure article 17.19 authorize a bond surety to surrender a principal after filing an affidavit, which among other things, states the cause for the surrender.
“The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has determined that these statutory provisions
contain no authority for the trial judge to refuse the surety’s affidavit to surrender a principal. Instead, the mechanism by which to challenge a surety’s reasonable cause is a principal’s contest under Occupations Code subsection 1704.207(b).”