Request By:
Ray L. Slone,
Boyd County Court Clerk
Boyd County Courthouse
Catlettsburg, Kentucky 41129ATTENTION: Gayle May, Deputy Clerk
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; BY: Dale D. Brodkey, Assistant Attorney General
This letter is in response to your letter of November 20, 1978, in which you asked the following question:
"Whether or not a married female can sign as surety on bonds, primarily notary bonds."
The answer to your question is that a married woman can sign as a surety on a bond.
Prior to 1974, by Kentucky statute, there were restrictions on a married woman's right to sign as a surety on a bond. Kentucky Revised Statutes 404.010(2) stated in pertinent part, "A married woman shall never be the joint maker of a note or a surety on any bond or obligation of another, other than her husband, without the joinder of her husband with her in making such contract unless her separate estate has been set apart for that purpose by mortgage or other conveyance." This sentence was deleted in 1974 when the statute was amended. Thus, the General Assembly removed this restriction at that time.
The removal of this restriction was a matter of state law. It is not related to the 1972 ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in Kentucky.
Because a married woman can sign as a surety on bonds, including notary bonds, the practice in Boyd County prohibiting this is clearly in error.
Enclosed is a copy of OAG 74-479, the second question of which deals directly with your inquiry.
If this office can be of further assistance to you on this matter, feel free to contact us.