Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: How to collect monies owed after a ''bail exonerated'' has been ordered.

I would start by discussing this with the clerk of the court where the bail was posted. In larger counties there is probably a specialist, or at least the head clerk of the criminal division, where you should end up. The court might still be holding the funds. Be prepared to prove your personal entitlement to them.

Unclaimed funds do escheat to the state after a while, and it may be too late. Not many lawyers know much about escheatment. If this has happened be prepared to pay a lawyer to do some research into this area of the law.

Finally, if the funds have fallen into private hands and a lawsuit might be necessary to get the party holding them to release them, you will have a statute of limitations problem. There may be a way around the limitations issue but it will be tough.

Re: How to collect monies owed after a ''bail exonerated'' has been ordered.

If you posted cash bail directly with the court that was Exonerated, the court would have sent the money back to the person that posted it, at their address. If that is you, and you never got it, it may be possible to recover it now with a formal Claim to the court and county. However, it has been a long time, so there are statute of limitation issues.

IF instead, you paid a bail bondsman to post bail, then you don't get your payment back upon Exoneration.