Procedure for Obtaining a Property Bond for the 19th JDC if the Defendant is Being Held in ANOTHER PARISH

It will take several hours to complete this process. To ensure that the process can be completed before the close of business on the same day, we recommend that you start the process no later than 12:00 noon.

Step 1: Go to the Assessor’s office on the first floor of City Hall at 222 St. Louis St. (formerly the Governmental Building, where this court was previously located). Obtain an Assessment Certificate for the property you wish to use to post bond.

Step 2: Bring the assessment certificate to the Bail Bond Project, 300 North Blvd (in the new 19th JDC Courthouse across the street and down one block from City Hall on the corner of St. Louis St. & North Blvd.), Room 3401(3rd Floor). The Bail Bond Project will approve and stamp your certificate, review the assessment of your property, and explain your options.

After your options have been explained, if you choose to proceed with the process:

Step 3: Take your assessment certificate to the Clerk of Court’s Mortgage Department, located in the basement of City Hall at 222 St. Louis St. (formerly the Governmental Building, where this court was previously located). The office is on level B-1, Room B-108 (there is a B-1 button on the elevator). Present the assessment certificate and request a Mortgage Certificate and a Conveyance Certificate be prepared for your property.

Step 4: Bring the mortgage certificate and conveyance certificate to the Bail Bond Project, 300 North Blvd (in the new 19th JDC Courthouse across the street and down one block from City Hall on the corner of St. Louis St. & North Blvd.), Room 3401(3rd Floor). The Bail Bond Project will review your conveyance certificate to ensure that you do in fact own the property, and will review your mortgage certificate to calculate how much equity you have in the property that you may use towards the bond.

NOTE: The mortgage certificate will reflect any mortgages, liens, judgments, lines of credit, any previous property bonds, etc. that have been recorded against the property. If the mortgage certificate reflects any such recordings that will need to be cancelled in order to have enough equity in the property to post bond, the Bail Bond Project will advise you of the recommended cancellations. IF YOU ARE PAYING A MORTGAGE, PLEASE PRESENT A COPY OF THE CURRENT BALANCE FROM THE MORTGAGE COMPANY.  THE PROCESS CANNOT CONTINUE UNTIL ALL NECESSARY CANCELLATIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED AND RECORDED WITH THE CLERK OF COURT.

Step 5: If you have enough equity in the property to post bond, the Bail Bond Project will assemble the necessary paperwork for you to take to the E.B.R. Parish Prison, 2867 Brig General Isaac Smith (across from the B.R.. Metro Airport). Present the documents received from the Bail Bond Project at the guard shack. The Sheriff’s Deputy in the guard shack will direct you to the bonding office in the prison, where you will present your property documents. The E.B.R. Sheriff’s office will then contact the Parish where the defendant is being held, and prepare a property bond according to the other Parish’s specifications.

NOTE: ALL persons listed as property owners on the property’s documents must be present at the prison at the same time when posting the bond and signing the bond.

Step 6:  Bring the bond prepared by the E.B.R. Sheriff to the Bail Bond Project, 300 North Blvd (in the new 19th JDC Courthouse across the street and down one block from City Hall on the corner of St. Louis St. & North Blvd.), Room 3401(3rd Floor). The Bail Bond Project will present it to the appropriate Judge for signing. Once the Judge has reviewed and signed the bond, the Bail Bond Project will provide you with a copy of the property bond.

NOTE: Judges DO NOT operate on a set time frame. The Bail Bond Project cannot and will not make any predictions as to when a Judge will review/sign a property bond, or how long it will take.

Step 7: Take the property bond to the Recording Department of the Clerk Of Court on the first floor of City Hall at 222 St. Louis St., (formerly the Governmental Building, where this court was previously located) Room 152. Have the property bond recorded, and request a copy of the recording.

Step 8: Bring the copy of the recording to the Bail Bond Project, 300 North Blvd (in the new 19th JDC Courthouse across the street and down one block from City Hall on the corner of St. Louis St. & North Blvd.), Room 3401(3rd Floor). The Bail Bond Project will in turn give you a packet of all of your documents for you to take to the Parish prison where the defendant is being held.

When the property bond is no longer needed (there has been a final disposition in the case such as guilty, innocent, charges dropped, etc.), you must have the property bond cancelled and recorded. If you do not, the amount of the bond will remain recorded against your property in the mortgage records. To initiate the cancellation process, go to the Court where the defendant was facing charges, and obtain the necessary paperwork showing that the bond is no longer needed. Bring that paperwork to the Bail Bond Project, 300 North Blvd (in the new 19th JDC Courthouse across the street and down one block from City Hall on the corner of St. Louis St. & North Blvd.), Room 3401(3rd Floor) in order to initiate the cancellation process.