New York State Court of Chancery (3rd Circuit) Bonds of Guardians, Committees and Receivers

Rough chronological order by date of filing.

This series consists of bonds for the performance of duties executed by guardians, committees, and receivers. A law of 1815 required a court appointed guardian to give bond to the infant-trustee. The bond was to be filed with the court. In practice such bonds were also required from committees for lunatics and habitual drunkards, receivers of property of insolvent corporations, and administrators of estates.

Each bond contains: the names of the obligor; his surety(ies); the obligee (the infant or, in the case of a lunatic, drunkard, etc. the people of the State of New York); and the court official approving the bond (usually a Master or the Clerk); the county and town of residence of the obligor, his surety, and the obligee; the amount of money pledged (required to be double the value of personal property in addition to the gross value of all rent and profits from real estate earned during the ward's minority); the condition the obligor was to fulfill (i.e., "faithful to perform the trust and office of guardian..."); a signed statement by a court official approving the bond; and the dates the bond was made and was filed. Because the court rules allowed a mortgage to be substituted for a guardian's bond, a number of such documents appear in this series.

The Court of Appeals placed these records on deposit at the Historical Documents Collection, Queens College, from 1973-1982.

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