You are suing someone who owes you money, and you have good reason to think the assets will be gone by the time you win. Your attorney says a writ of attachment can freeze that property now — then adds that the court will not issue the writ until you post a bond. This article covers that bond: how the amount gets set, what a surety needs, and what you are on the hook for if the attachment does not hold up.
Attachment is a prejudgment remedy. It lets a plaintiff have a defendant's property seized or frozen before the case is tried, so there is something left to collect against if the plaintiff eventually wins.
There is no general common-law right to prejudgment attachment in the United States. It exists only where a state statute creates it, and federal courts generally borrow the law of the state they sit in — so grounds, procedure, and bond all change at the state line.
It is also an extraordinary remedy, because it takes property from someone a court has not yet found liable for anything. Courts hedge it heavily.
Most attachment statutes limit the remedy to specific circumstances. North Carolina, for example, allows attachment only in certain kinds of actions (money judgments, alimony, maintenance and support, support of a minor child) and only on defined grounds, such as a defendant who is a nonresident, a foreign corporation, or someone concealing property to defraud creditors.
The evidentiary standard is demanding too. Attachment is generally reserved for plaintiffs who can show a real risk of being unable to enforce a future judgment, not for one who would simply prefer to hold collateral while the case runs.
Because sometimes the plaintiff is wrong. A defendant whose bank account is frozen or whose equipment is hauled away can lose customers, miss payroll, and pay storage fees on property they never should have lost, all before anyone proved anything against them.
The attachment bond is the defendant's recourse: a promise, backed by a surety, that if the attachment was improper the plaintiff will pay for the harm.
California shows how far that reaches. There, an attachment is "wrongful" not only when unauthorized or when it hits exempt property, but also simply when the plaintiff does not recover judgment. A plaintiff who wrongfully attaches is liable for damages proximately caused, plus the costs and attorney's fees the defendant reasonably spent defeating the attachment, with liability limited by the amount of the undertaking. North Carolina's statute reads similarly, capping the surety's exposure at the bond amount.
This is where readers get bad information online. Several states do key the bond to a multiple of the claim or the property, but the multiplier is not the same everywhere and plenty of states use none at all. Four verified approaches:
- A flat statutory default. California sets the undertaking to obtain a writ of attachment at $10,000, which the court must increase, on objection to the undertaking, if probable recovery for wrongful attachment would be greater.
- A multiple of the claim. The District of Columbia requires a bond in twice the amount of the plaintiff's claim, with an alternative measure of twice the property's value in defined circumstances.
- A multiple of the amount sworn due. Illinois requires bond and sufficient security in double the sum sworn to be due, and declares an attachment order entered without a bond and affidavit void.
- Judicial discretion. Texas leaves the amount to the court, set to adequately compensate the defendant if the plaintiff fails to prosecute the suit successfully. North Carolina likewise leaves it to the court, at whatever affords reasonable protection, subject to a statutory floor of $200 — a floor, not a typical figure.
So do not assume a multiple. Read your state's attachment statute, or read the court's order, because in a discretionary state the order is the answer.
Weighing a bond against a cash deposit? Our comparison of the two covers the tradeoffs. Jurisco writes plaintiff bonds in all fifty states.
Underwriting moves faster when the file is complete on the first pass. Expect to provide:
1. The bond amount and the exact obligee court, from the court's order.
2. The complaint or petition and the affidavit or application supporting the writ.
3. The court's order setting or authorizing the bond, if one has been entered.
4. The state's required bond form, where the court or clerk prescribes one.
5. Indemnity and financial information for the plaintiff and any individual indemnitors — because the indemnitors, not the surety, ultimately bear the loss.
These bonds are underwritten on the risk that the attachment fails, so financial strength and the strength of the claim both matter. Start at Jurisco's bond application page, and if you are working against a hearing date, see how to expedite a bond when deadlines are tight.
If the attachment is dissolved, dismissed, or set aside, the property goes back. In North Carolina the sheriff returns the money and attached property, and the clerk delivers the bond to the defendant — who may then pursue damages by motion in the pending case or by a separate action.
The bond does not evaporate when you lose, either. Under California's framework, failing to recover judgment is itself a form of wrongful attachment that opens the plaintiff to liability on the undertaking. Note who actually pays: the surety's liability is capped at the penal sum, and the plaintiff's indemnity agreement is what reimburses the surety for anything it pays out. California goes a step further and caps the plaintiff's own wrongful-attachment liability at the amount of the undertaking (§ 490.020(b)) — a protection that does not exist in every state, so do not assume it travels.
No. Attachment reaches property in the defendant's hands; garnishment reaches property or debts held by a third party, such as a bank or employer. Both are prejudgment plaintiff bonds underwritten on the risk that the plaintiff was wrong.
Yes. California permits the court to order an undertaking greater than the $10,000 default where probable recovery for wrongful attachment would exceed it, and discretionary states can revisit the amount as the picture of potential harm changes.
Generally the defendant whose property was attached, once the attachment is found wrongful or the plaintiff fails to obtain judgment. Procedure varies: North Carolina allows recovery by motion in the underlying case or by independent action.
There is no flat rate. Pricing depends on the bond amount, bond type, credit, financials, and whether collateral is involved, so the only reliable answer is a quote on your facts.
Attachment moves fast, and the bond is usually the last thing between you and the writ. Jurisco has written court bonds nationwide since 1987, and the people who answer the phone are lawyer-trained — describe the order the judge signed and get a straight answer, not a call-back. Reach us at 1-800-274-2663.
This article is general information about surety bonds and court procedure, not legal advice.