§ 473 Substitution of surety

If someone put up a bond to guarantee support payments in a family court case, this rule lets that bond be swapped out for a new one. The court can allow this switch at almost any point in the case, whether or not the person paying support has ever fallen behind.

If there was a time when payments were missed, the person must first pay off everything they owe before the court will approve a new bond. Once that happens, or if there was never a missed payment to begin with, the court can approve the new bond and officially cancel the old one. This gives people some flexibility to change who is backing the support payments without starting the whole case over.