Glossary

A licensed individual who writes bonds on behalf of the surety. Dual regulated in Minnesota: needs a Department of Commerce resident producer licence in the surety line, and separate approval from the State Court Administrator under Rule 702. Approval is statewide and revocable statewide.

A spreadsheet where report writers type that they have finished and uploaded, so a colleague downstream knows to start. It exists to avoid a phone call. In a real system this is workflow state, not a document.

The one page internal summary produced from a Defendant File. Not the same thing as the Defendant File, though staff use both names loosely. The Agent Report is what the rest of the company reads from, and its closure is the trigger for accounting, surety reporting, and servicing.

The outcome recorded after checking the public court record the morning after a hearing. Two independent flags, not one: whether the defendant appeared, and whether a warrant issued. A defendant can fail to appear without a warrant, and that case behaves completely differently.

The legal capacity in which an agent signs a bond. The agent is not promising to pay, the surety is, and the power of attorney is what proves the agent could bind it. The signature block on the execution report says attorney-in-fact for this reason.

Security for a defendant's appearance. Under the Minnesota constitution all persons before conviction are bailable by sufficient sureties, so on a new charge a defendant cannot be held with no bail at all.

The statewide list of approved bail bond agents, agencies and sureties published by the State Court Administrator. A surety not on the list cannot back bonds in Minnesota district courts, and an agent not on it cannot write. The list is live and changes.

A warrant issued by the judge when a defendant fails to appear. Often but not always accompanies a forfeiture order.

A multi-select tag on a bond in Julie's prototype, used to pull reports on categories such as voids. A bond can carry more than one.

Weekly datasets sold by the Minnesota Judicial Branch under a signed data use agreement, refreshed Mondays, with signup and monthly fees. The compliant alternative to scraping. Too slow for a daily appearance check, potentially ideal for sweeping the no-date list and catching forfeitures the court never mailed.

Third party bail software used here narrowly for recovery: failures to appear are entered, and it emails back when the person turns up in custody somewhere. Not used as the system of record.

Minnesota district court case numbers follow a pattern such as 82-CR-26-887: county code, case type, year, sequence. 82 is Washington County, CR is criminal. The format is validatable on entry, and the county and judicial district can be derived from it.

A working document prepared on a defendant in forfeiture status without a resolution. Pulls the bond application, skip trace results, extra phone numbers, addresses, mugshot, custody checks, social media, and the field team's notes into one place. Requested a week or so before it is due.

Property pledged to secure the indemnitor's obligations, held in two forms here: cash and mortgage on real property. Handling is regulated under Chapter 60M. Returned only once the surety has written evidence of discharge and no other liabilities are outstanding, which means collateral return is gated on the liability track, not the money track.

Minnesota's small claims court, where in-house collection claims are filed against indemnitors, in the county where the indemnitor resides. Filing is capped at a number of claims per day, so a month's batch takes about a week to file.

A binding regulatory agreement referenced in two places: the report closure checklist, and the rule routing collection files of $15,000 and over or out of state to outside counsel. Appears to constrain real operating practice.

Used interchangeably with indemnitor in daily speech. The person on the hook for the money if the bond forfeits.

The standardized Minnesota form, Bail Bond for Appearance Only, on which a commercial surety bond must be filed, together with the power of attorney. Minnesota bonds guarantee appearance only. They do not guarantee payment of fines or restitution.

In-house usage: the person who pays, meaning the indemnitor. Not the defendant. The distinction matters because most billing, collections and customer service conversations are with the customer, while all court tracking is about the defendant.

The person the bond is for. Distinguished in-house from the customer, who pays.

The original paperwork the agent produces and uploads: bail bond application and agreement, indemnitor application and agreement, premium receipt, identification, and the execution report copy. Arrives handwritten and scanned.

The outbound automated voice system used for court date reminders. The daily call list is built and uploaded by hand. It records three outcomes: answered, machine, or bad number, and whether the person confirmed they would appear.

The court releasing the surety from the bond obligation. Usually seen paired as reinstatement and discharge, since a reinstated bond is normally then discharged.

The weekly report of powers consumed, run from the surety system. Drives a check to the surety for the powers used and a request for replacement stock, one for one.

Transcribing a conciliation court judgment into district court so it can be enforced as a civil judgment. There is a 23 day window from judgment to docket.

The surety's own carbonless form carrying the power number, filled in when a bond is written. The Home Office Copy is the part returned to the surety. Its right hand column, covering attorney, indemnitor, address, phone, gross premium and collateral, is frequently left blank.

The case is over, the bond obligation ends, and the surety's liability is released. Reported to the surety weekly. Staff sometimes spell it exhoneration.

A petition asking the court for more time on a forfeited bond before the reinstatement window closes. Distinct from a reinstatement petition. Filed roughly two weeks before the court's due date as an internal practice.

When the customer does not pay the full premium at signing, the balance is financed against a promissory note and entered in the accounting system. This is the branch point that creates a receivable and everything that follows it: statements, aging, collections, judgments, write-offs.

The defendant's first hearing, where the court sets bail and conditions. A person not released must be brought before a judge without unnecessary delay and no more than 36 hours after arrest, excluding the day of arrest, Sundays and legal holidays.

The federal filing required when a business receives more than $10,000 in cash. Currently tracked on a spreadsheet. It carries a filing deadline and a penalty, and it belongs in the deadline engine alongside the court clocks.

The court order making the bond amount payable after a defendant fails to appear. The order date starts every clock that matters: 90 days to pay, 90 days for full reinstatement, 90 to 180 days for reinstatement with a mandatory penalty, and 180 days as an absolute cutoff.

The master spreadsheet of every forfeiture, its status, and its resolution method. Colour coded to assign petition work. Referred to as both the forfeiture document and the forfeiture spreadsheet. Replacing it is the highest value single change available on the recovery side.

Failure to appear. Also the name of the email sent to office staff, the writing bondsman and that bondsman's supervising agent when one is confirmed. The FTA email is the handoff from routine servicing into forfeiture and recovery.

The full premium charged on a bond before fees, a regulated percentage of the bond amount. A field on the surety's execution report that is routinely left blank.

The unwritten rule deciding what happens to a new forfeiture. Roughly: $2,000 and under is paid immediately, $5,000 and under is held about 30 days to see whether it resolves, and above $5,000 is held about a week before going to recovery. It should be a configurable rule, not an assumption, because it is spending money against the 90 day clock.

The person who signs the indemnity agreement and becomes liable for losses if the bond forfeits, including the forfeited amount, a recovery fee typically around ten percent for an in-state recovery, extradition costs, and legal fees. Called the customer or cosigner in daily speech.

The contract between the surety and the indemnitor. Contains the written authorization to pull credit and records, which is what Chapter 60M requires be obtained in writing, and broad consent to locate and apprehend the defendant. The signed agreement is the evidence backing any later credit pull, so the system should store it as such.

The daily pass through morning jail booking sheets, checking for people who are already clients, compiled to a spreadsheet and sent to specific agents. Origination work rather than servicing, and it appears nowhere on the original process map.

Minnesota has one trial court, the district court, sitting in 87 counties and organized into 10 judicial districts. Hennepin is the Fourth and Ramsey the Second. Practice, bail schedules and filing logistics vary by county, so multi-county coverage is a real requirement rather than a nicety.

The surety-side system of record, associated with Lexington National. Holds powers, open liability, court dates, forfeiture status and exonerations. Staff use Lexbail and Lexington almost interchangeably.

The surety backing MWB's bonds, on Minnesota's approved list. Issues powers, sets inventory levels, receives weekly reporting, and takes payment for powers consumed.

The surety's outstanding exposure. A bond is open liability from execution until exoneration or discharge. Open liability is what the weekly surety reports are reconciling and what the whole servicing operation exists to protect.

The field recovery team that goes out to locate and produce defendants. Receives the prepared recovery file with addresses, mugshot and a map, colour coded so one trip covers a geographic cluster.

Minnesota Court Records Online, the public search portal for district court records at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us. Free, no login, requires a case number to search. This is where appearance, warrant status, next court date and case detail come from.

Minnesota Government Access. A richer, closer to real time view of court data, restricted to government agencies. Not available to a commercial bond agency.

The Minnesota Court Information System, the judiciary's internal case management system. Staff say MNCIS constantly, but what they are actually using is MCRO, the public portal. Worth correcting in the vocabulary, because the two have very different access rules.

Real property pledged to secure a bond. Implies recording an interest and releasing it on exoneration, a workflow currently held in a spreadsheet and not mapped anywhere.

Review of customers on a settlement agreement to see whether they are actually paying. Non-payers are escalated by affidavit of non-compliance to the court and the other party. Roughly monthly, at a volume of ten to twenty.

The face value of the bond, the amount that becomes payable on forfeiture. Distinct from the premium, which is what the customer pays MWB.

The filing asking the court to reinstate or discharge a forfeited bond, supported by an affidavit and served on the prosecutor and the bond principal. Drafted in house, reviewed, and filed by outside counsel. Four possible outcomes: reinstated, reinstated and discharged, reinstated and discharged with penalty, or denied.

Short for power of attorney. The serialized instrument the surety issues that lets an agent bind it on one bond, up to an authorized limit. Closer to a blank check drawn on the insurance company than to a form. Must be filed with the CRM702 bond. Serialized, barcoded, inventory controlled, replaced one for one, and void after January 1 of the following year if unused.

The letter code inside a power number, as in 2026-AA-031162. Its meaning is unconfirmed. It may encode the authorized limit, or limits may be set by agent authority level with a call to the surety for large bonds.

What the customer pays MWB for writing the bond, a regulated percentage of the bond amount, plus itemized fees such as travel and a card surcharge. Fully earned on release from custody and not refundable if the case is later dismissed or the bail reduced.

The instrument created when premium is financed rather than paid in full. Part of the bond application package, and the document relied on when a claim is filed in conciliation court.

Reinstatement and discharge. Used constantly in-house as a noun for both the petition and the resulting order. Also written R&D.

The work of locating and producing a defendant who has failed to appear: skip tracing, custody checks, phone calls, field visits. Documented recovery effort is one of the four factors the court weighs on a reinstatement petition, so recovery is both an operational activity and evidence production.

The court restoring a forfeited bond. Petition inside 90 days of the forfeiture order goes to the judge who ordered it and can be granted on the court's terms. Between 90 and 180 days it requires the chief judge to concur and carries a mandatory minimum penalty of ten percent, which courts have no discretion to forgive. After 180 days it is not available at all.

Return of money already paid on a forfeited bond, sought when the defendant is recovered after payment has been made. Distinct from reinstatement, which happens before payment.

The surety shipping replacement powers one for one against those consumed and paid for. Inventory is sized to one reporting cycle plus about two weeks of float for mail in each direction. An agent out of powers cannot write, so this is a hard constraint on revenue.

The quality gate. An agent report is proofread, all paperwork confirmed present, numbers confirmed matching, and consent order and company practice confirmed followed. Closure is the trigger event for surety reporting, accounting, commissions and servicing.

Chasing the writing agent for missing signatures, absent paperwork and mismatched numbers. Drawn as a step on the original map, actually a rework loop. Nothing advances until the agent responds, and nobody currently measures how long that takes or which agents cause it most.

How a forfeited bond came to be resolved: defendant produced, found in custody elsewhere, sentenced, paid, and so on. Recorded on the forfeiture spreadsheet and used to choose which petition to write.

The criminal procedure rule requiring the court, whenever it sets conditions of release, to also fix a money-only bail amount with no other conditions. That guaranteed money-only option is what a commercial surety bond satisfies, and it is the structural reason a commercial bail market exists in Minnesota.

The General Rules of Practice provision governing bail bond agents: approval, the standard bond form, forfeiture, and the reinstatement timeline. Nearly every deadline in the business comes from here.

State Court Administrator's Office. Runs the statewide bail bond program: approves agents, agencies and sureties, maintains the approved list, publishes the procedures and standards of conduct, owns the bond form, and handles complaints and suspensions.

The test Minnesota courts apply when deciding whether to reinstate a forfeited bond, from a 1953 Minnesota Supreme Court case. Four factors: the purpose of bail and the cause, purpose and length of the absence; the good faith of the surety as measured by the defendant's fault or willfulness; the surety's good faith efforts to apprehend and produce the defendant; and any prejudice to the state. The petitioner carries the burden of proof.

Locating a person using commercial data services, public records, custody databases and social media. Done in house to prepare case updates and recovery files.

The insurance company whose balance sheet actually stands behind the bond. The court accepts the surety's promise, not the agency's, which is the entire reason powers of attorney exist. Staff sometimes say suridity.

To be determined. Live bonds with no known next court date, about 35 pages, worked a slice at a time on roughly a two week cycle. Three different populations are mixed into one list: bonds with no case attached at all, cases not yet scheduled, and cases where a warrant is out and no new date has issued. Each needs a different action.

The practical result of Rule 6.02: defendants see a higher money-only amount with no conditions, and a lower conditional amount with requirements such as sobriety monitoring or no contact. Commercial sureties post against the money-only amount.

A serial that is neither executed on a bond, voided, nor confirmed in an agent's hands. Open exposure the surety cannot see. Nobody currently knows the count without counting paper.

Outside collections counsel taking files of $15,000 and over, and out of state files, per the consent order. Sends monthly packages of spreadsheets and checks that are entered by hand.

Public custody and offender status lookup, used to check whether a defendant is in custody somewhere.

A power spoiled or misused by an agent, which must be formally cancelled on the surety ledger rather than discarded. Also the annual sweep, when every unused power is voided at year end because they expire.

Recorded as an independent flag from appearance. Its presence changes both the recovery approach and the likely petition argument, so it should never be collapsed into failure to appear.

Clearing a receivable of $149 or less as bad debt, on the basis that collecting it costs more than it is worth. Done monthly, and it stops the account generating statements.