A sheriff showed up with a writ and took your equipment, your vehicle, or your inventory. You dispute that the other side is entitled to it, but the case will not be decided for months — and meanwhile the property is gone. A counter-replevin bond is how most states let you get it back, or keep it, while the lawsuit plays out. In many states you have days, not weeks, to use it.
Replevin — called claim and delivery, sequestration, or an order of possession in some states — is a suit to recover specific personal property. The typical path:
1. The plaintiff files a replevin action claiming a right to immediate possession of identified property.
2. The plaintiff posts a replevin bond. Most states require security before the writ issues. Illinois requires bond "in double the value of the property about to be replevied"; Ohio requires twice the approximate value before an order of possession takes effect.
3. The court issues the writ — sometimes after notice and a hearing, sometimes, on the required showing, without prior notice.
4. The officer levies and takes the property.
5. The defendant posts a counter-replevin bond and the property stays with, or returns to, the defendant pending trial.
Step five is the point of this article. It does not decide who owns the property; it decides who holds it while the court figures that out.
It is the mirror image of the plaintiff's bond. Where the plaintiff's bond protects the defendant against a wrongful seizure, the counter-replevin bond protects the plaintiff against the risk that the defendant keeps the property, loses, and cannot produce it.
The conditions are consistent across states even when the amounts are not. Illinois's defendant bond is conditioned on appearing in the action, returning the property in good condition if ordered, and paying adjudged costs and damages. Washington's obligates the defendant to deliver the property if judgment for possession goes to the plaintiff and to pay any sum the plaintiff recovers. Florida's is conditioned on having the property "forthcoming to abide the result of the action."
Because the surety guarantees the property will be produced or paid for, underwriting focuses on its value, its condition, and whether it is the kind of asset that can quietly disappear.
This is the most important practical point, and the one that costs defendants their property. Deadlines are set by state statute or rule, and they are genuinely tight where they exist:
- Florida: the defendant may obtain release of seized property within 5 days after the seizure by posting with the clerk who issued the writ.
- Illinois: the defendant's bond must be executed and delivered before the property is actually delivered to the plaintiff — a deadline defined by the officer's action rather than a day count, which can be very short.
- Washington: the defendant may post at the show-cause hearing, any time before the sheriff takes possession, or after the sheriff takes possession but before release of the property to the plaintiff.
Three states, three different clocks. Some run from seizure, some from delivery to the plaintiff, some from a hearing. Do not assume your state gives you a comfortable window, or that it matches the last state you litigated in. Confirm the deadline the day the property is taken.
Researching the plaintiff's side instead? Jurisco has state-specific guides to filing a writ of replevin in Texas, getting a writ of replevin in California, and filing a writ of replevin in Florida.
Three approaches show up, and they produce very different numbers.
Tied to the property's value. Illinois requires the defendant's bond "in an amount double the value of such property," matching the standard it applies to the plaintiff. Virginia's analogous attachment provision lets the person in possession give bond in double the amount of the attachment or double the property's value, at the giver's option.
Tied to the plaintiff's bond. Washington's redelivery bond is set at an amount "equal to the value of the bond filed by the plaintiff." Where a state uses this approach, the plaintiff's filed bond tells you your number.
Tied to the debt. Where the dispute arises from a financing or security agreement, some states size the bond to the balance owed. Florida requires the defendant to post "1¼ times the amount due and owing."
The lesson matches the deadline: the formula is statutory and differs by state, so the fastest route to a correct number is the statute plus the court's paperwork.
Jurisco writes defendant bonds, including counter-replevin bonds, in all fifty states. Because the deadline is measured in days, start the conversation before you have the final figure.
If your state's statute never says "counter-replevin," that does not mean you have the wrong statute. The instrument goes by several names:
- Redelivery bond — the term Washington's statute uses.
- Forthcoming bond — from the traditional condition that the property be "forthcoming" to abide the result. Florida and Virginia both use that language, and Virginia's code devotes a whole chapter to "Forthcoming Bonds" (Title 8.01, Chapter 19) — though note that chapter governs bonds on execution and levy, and is separate from the attachment provision in Chapter 20 cited above.
- Replevy bond — used where provisional-remedy rules are organized around sequestration.
- Defendant's bond to retain possession — common descriptive language in statutory headings.
Search all of these terms. And when you order the bond, give your surety the statute or the court's order rather than the label — the label is the least reliable part.
No. It is a possession-pending-trial mechanism. Posting it concedes nothing about ownership, the debt, or liability — it substitutes security for the property so the court can decide the merits without the property sitting in a storage lot.
You generally lose the ability to hold the property during the case, but you do not lose the case. It continues, and you can still win possession or damages at final judgment. Ask your attorney immediately whether your state allows relief from the deadline — that answer varies.
If you prevail and keep the property, the bond's conditions are satisfied and no claim is made against it. It nonetheless stays on file until the court acts, so ask your attorney what your jurisdiction requires at the end of the case.
There is no flat rate. Premium turns on the bond amount, credit and financials, the nature of the property, and whether collateral is required. Because these bonds guarantee a specific asset will be produced, the asset itself matters. Ask for a quote on your facts.
Counter-replevin is one of the few court bonds where a few days decides the outcome. Jurisco has specialized in court bonds since 1987 and our team is lawyer-trained — we would rather hear from you the afternoon the sheriff arrives than the week after the window closed. Call 1-800-274-2663 with the writ in hand.
This article is general information about surety bonds and court procedure, not legal advice.