A plaintiff has obtained a writ of attachment freezing real estate, bank accounts, accounts receivable, or other property in your hands. The dissolution of attachment bond — sometimes called a release of attachment bond or attachment discharge bond — substitutes the bond for the attachment lien, releasing the property from the writ. We write dissolution bonds in every state that permits pre-judgment attachment and in federal court under FRCP 64.
Pre-judgment attachment is a remedy that lets a plaintiff freeze a defendant's specific property — typically real estate, bank accounts, accounts receivable, or business equipment — before the case is decided. The plaintiff posts an attachment bond securing the defendant against wrongful seizure. The sheriff levies; the property is locked down; the defendant cannot sell, transfer, encumber, or in some cases even use the property during the pendency of the suit.
That state of affairs is often intolerable for the defendant. Frozen real estate cannot be refinanced or sold. Frozen bank accounts disrupt operating businesses. Frozen accounts receivable strangle cash flow. The dissolution of attachment bond is the defendant's remedy: by posting surety equal to (typically) the amount of the attachment, the defendant substitutes the bond for the lien. The court orders the attachment dissolved; the property is released from the writ.
Functionally, the dissolution bond pays the same role for attachment that the mechanic's lien release bond plays for liens: alternate security. The plaintiff's recovery is no longer secured by the specific property — it is secured by the bond. The defendant resumes normal use, sale, and encumbrance of the property. The underlying case continues to judgment on the same merits as before; only the security posture changes.
Pre-judgment attachment is a state-law remedy that federal court adopts under FRCP 64. Each state has its own attachment framework. Most provide for dissolution by bond as a matter of course — the defendant posts surety equal to the attachment amount, the writ is dissolved, the property is released. A handful of states require a hearing on the dissolution motion; most do not, treating the bond as a matter of right.
The constitutional minimum derives from the Supreme Court's pre-judgment seizure trilogy — Sniadach, Fuentes, and Connecticut v. Doehr, 501 U.S. 1 (1991). The defendant's right to dissolve the attachment by bond is, in most jurisdictions, the procedural safeguard that satisfies due process for non-emergency pre-judgment seizure.
Dissolution of attachment bonds are underwritten on the strength of the defendant's financial position and the strength of the defendant's defenses to the underlying claim. For commercial defendants with substantial unencumbered net worth and well-developed defenses, most files are written same-day on standard application terms without collateral.
Four items start the file: the plaintiff's complaint from the underlying action, the writ of attachment itself, a description of the attached property with its current value, and a financial statement for the defendant principal appropriate to the bond size. For attachments running into seven or eight figures, additional underwriting documentation is required — typically three years of tax returns, audited financials, and confirmation of no pending or threatened claims that would affect the defendant's capacity to indemnify.
For non-standard files — credit-challenged defendants, weak underlying defenses, very large attachments — collateral is available in three accepted forms: cash, irrevocable letter of credit, or U.S. Treasury securities. Real estate is not accepted. Filing is with the court that issued the original writ; we deliver bonds in PDF for same-day e-filing.
Send the writ and the underlying complaint. Our underwriters open the file and respond immediately, 7/52/365.