Apply to become a licensed producer with authority to write surety and fidelity (including bail bonds). If you are a producer licensed for surety, limited lines P&C, of full P&C lines of authority, you are able to contract with insurers who write surety and fidelity coverage.

Obtaining your insurance producer license is only the first step in obtaining the ability to write bail bonds. Once you have become licensed, contract with surety insurers in order to represent them for the bail bonds they are willing to write in the State of Michigan. Then contact the chief justice of the specific courts in which you desire to write bail bonds to ask how you can be approved for the court's list of acceptable bail bond underwriters/producers. Each chief justice and/or judge determines for his/her court(s) which bail bond underwriters/producers are acceptable.

A license is not required in Michigan to become a bounty hunter or skip tracer. However, if your work is related to professional investigation or the collection industry you may require a license as either a Collection Agency or a Professional Investigator, which are licensed through the Bureau of Commercial Services at 517-241-9288.

File a complaint with our Consumer Assistance Section by calling 877-999-6442 or by utilizing the complaint form on our website.

Also file a complaint with the judge or chief justice of the court to whom your case is assigned. Our agency will be able to investigate and take necessary action against bail bond writers who are under our regulatory jurisdiction pursuant to the Michigan Insurance Code, whereas the courts should be able to remove egregious violators from their list of acceptable bail bond writers and take other actions allowed pursuant to Michigan laws covering court operations.

The answers provided are not meant to be a substitute for legal advice.