New York State Law

Criminal Procedure Law

Consolidated Laws of New York's CPL code

Article 540 - NY Criminal Procedure Law

FORFEITURE OF BAIL AND REMISSION THEREOF

Section Description
540.10Forfeiture of bail; generally.
540.20Forfeiture of bail; certain local criminal courts.
540.30Remission of forfeiture.
S 540.10 Forfeiture of bail; generally.
  1.  If, without sufficient excuse, a principal does not appear when
required or does not render himself amenable to the orders and processes
of the criminal court wherein bail has been posted, the court must enter
such facts upon its minutes and the bail bond or the cash bail, as the
case may be, is thereupon forfeited.
  2.  If the principal appears at any time before the final adjournment
of the court, and satisfactorily excuses his neglect, the court may
direct the forfeiture to be discharged upon such terms as are just.  If
the forfeiture is not so discharged and the forfeited bail consisted of
a bail bond, the district attorney, within one hundred twenty days after
the adjournment of the court at which such bond was directed to be
forfeited, must proceed against the obligor or obligors who executed
such bond, in the manner prescribed in subdivision three.  If the
forfeited bail consisted of cash bail, the county treasurer with whom it
is deposited shall give written notice of the forfeiture to the person
who posted cash bail for the defendant may at any time after the final
adjournment of the court or forty-five days after notice of forfeiture
required herein has been given, whichever comes later, apply the money
deposited to the use of the county.
  3.  A bail bond or cash bail, upon being forfeited, together with a
certified copy of the order of the court forfeiting the same, must be
filed by the district attorney in the office of the clerk of the county
wherein such order was issued.  Such clerk must docket the same in the
book kept by him for docketing of judgments and enter therein a judgment
against the obligor or obligors who executed such bail bond for the
amount of the penalty of said bond or against the person who posted the
cash bail for the amount of the cash bail, and the bond and the
certified copy of the order of the court forfeiting the bond or the cash
bail constitutes the judgment roll. Such judgment constitutes a lien on
the real estate of the obligor or obligors who executed such bail bond
from the time of the entry of the judgment.  An execution may be issued
to collect the amount of said bail bond in the same form and with the
same effect as upon a judgment recovered in an action in said county
upon a debt in favor of the people of the state of New York against such
obligor or obligors.

S 540.20 Forfeiture of bail; certain local criminal courts.
  Notwithstanding the provisions of section 540.10, when bail has been
posted in a city court, town court or village court in connection with a
local criminal court accusatory instrument, other than a felony
complaint, and thereafter such bail is forfeited, the following rules
are applicable:
  1.  If such bail consists of a bail bond, the financial officer of
such city, town or village must promptly commence an action for the
recovery of the sum of money specified in such bond, and upon collection
thereof shall pay the same over to the treasurer or financial officer of
the city, the supervisor of the town or the treasurer of the village.
Any amount recovered in such action, unless otherwise provided by law,
shall be the property of the city, town or village in which the offense
charged is alleged to have been committed.
  2. If such bail consists of cash bail, the local criminal court must:
  (a) If it is a city court, pay the forfeited bail to the treasurer or
other financial officer of the city.  Such forfeited bail, unless
otherwise provided by law, is the property of such city.
  (b) If it is a town court or a village court, pay the forfeited bail
to the state comptroller on or before the tenth day of the month next
succeeding such forfeiture. Such forfeited bail, unless otherwise
provided by law, is the property of the town or village in which the
offense charged is alleged to have been committed; provided, however,
that when (i) a single amount of bail is posted for more than a single
offense charged, and (ii) the town or village justice court does not
attribute a specific amount of bail to each offense, and (iii) forfeited
bail for at least two of the offenses would be the property of different
governmental entities, the entire amount of forfeited bail shall be the
property of the town or village in which the offenses charged are
alleged to have been committed, except that, when forfeited bail for at
least one of the offenses would be the property of the state, the entire
amount of forfeited bail shall be the property of the state.

S 540.30 Remission of forfeiture.
  1.  After the forfeiture of a bail bond or cash bail, as provided in
section 540.10, an application for remission of such forfeiture may be
made to a court as follows:
  (a)  If the forfeiture has been ordered by a superior court, the
application must be made in such court;
  (b) If the forfeiture has been ordered by a local criminal court, the
application must be made to a superior court in the county, except that
if the local criminal court which ordered the forfeiture was a district
court, the application may alternatively be made to that district court.
  2.  The application must be made within one year after the forfeiture
of the bail is declared upon at least five days notice to the district
attorney and service of copies of the affidavits and papers upon which
the application is founded.  The court may grant the application and
remit the forfeiture or any part thereof, upon such terms as are just.
The application may be granted only upon payment of the costs and
expenses incurred in the proceedings for the enforcement of the
forfeiture.

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