1275 Hold: Source of Bail Funds

A 1275 hold is not a second bail amount and it is not a new charge. It is a court order that stops a bail bond from being accepted until a judge is satisfied that the money behind it did not come from a felony. The statute behind it — Penal Code § 1275.1 — runs to eleven subdivisions, and almost everything a family gets told about a hold over the phone is a loose paraphrase of one of them.

What a 1275 hold actually is

Subdivision (a) sets the rule in a single sentence: bail shall not be accepted unless a judge or magistrate finds that no portion of the consideration, pledge, security, deposit, or indemnification paid, given, made, or promised for its execution was feloniously obtained.

Two things follow from that wording, and both surprise people. First, the test is not limited to the premium handed to a bail agent. It reaches every form the money can take — cash, a pledge of property, a deposit with the court, even a promise to indemnify made by someone who has not paid anything yet. Second, it reaches past the defendant. A cosigner’s funds are consideration promised for the execution of the bond just as surely as the defendant’s own, which is why a hold can survive the fact that the defendant never touched the money.

Who can place one: the three routes in subdivision (b)

Only a magistrate or judge can order a hold on release. It happens if one of three things occurs:

1. A peace officer, as defined in Penal Code § 830, files a declaration executed under penalty of perjury setting forth probable cause to believe the source of the funds was feloniously obtained.
2. A prosecutor files a declaration of the same kind. The statute gives the prosecutor absolute civil immunity for executing it.
3. The magistrate or judge independently has probable cause to believe the source was feloniously obtained.

A jail cannot place a 1275 hold. An investigating agency cannot place one either. What an officer or a prosecutor can do is supply the declaration that lets a judge order it — the hold itself is always a judicial act.

Once a hold is on, the burden moves to the defense

Subdivision (c) is the part that decides most cases. Once the court has found probable cause under (b), the defendant carries the burden, by a preponderance of the evidence, of showing that no part of the money was obtained by felonious means. That is a lower standard than the one that governs the criminal case itself, and it sits on the defense rather than the prosecution.

The statute is not discretionary about what happens next. Once the defendant has met that burden, the magistrate or judge shall release the hold previously ordered, and the defendant shall be released under the authorized amount of bail.

The 24-hour rule in subdivision (g)

This is the provision most often left out of explanations of holds. If a declaration has been filed with a magistrate or judge and is not acted on within 24 hours, the defendant shall be released from custody upon posting the amount of bail set.

The practical reading is that filing a declaration is not the same thing as having a hold. A declaration that sits unacted upon does not keep someone in custody indefinitely, and the clock in (g) is short. Whether it has run in a particular case is a question for the defense attorney handling the file, not for a bail agent.

What “feloniously obtained” means

Subdivision (k) defines it precisely: consideration that is possessed, received, or obtained through an unlawful act, transaction, or occurrence constituting a felony.

Three things fall outside that definition, and it is worth being clear about them. Money connected to conduct at the misdemeanor level is not covered. Money that is simply undocumented or awkward to explain is not covered. And money that is lawfully owned but held by someone the prosecution dislikes is not covered. The question the statute asks is about felony provenance — not about whether the paperwork is tidy.

Borrowing is expressly permitted

Subdivision (e) says nothing in the section prohibits a defendant from obtaining a loan of money, so long as the loan will be funded and repaid with funds that are not feloniously obtained. Both ends of that sentence carry weight: the source of the loan and the source of the repayment are both in scope. A loan is not a way around a hold, but it is not, by itself, a problem either.

The declaration has to be handed over

Under subdivision (d), the defendant and the defense attorney are entitled to a copy of the probable-cause declaration filed under (b), no later than the date set by Penal Code § 825 — the section that requires a defendant to be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and in any event within 48 hours of arrest, excluding Sundays and holidays, subject to the court-session extensions that section spells out.

That matters because the declaration is the document the (c) showing has to answer. A family that has been told there is a hold, with no explanation of why, is usually describing a case where that document has not yet been read.

The source hearing can be closed to the public

Subdivision (f) allows any person providing any portion of the funds to ask that the evidentiary hearing on the source of the money be closed to the general public, to protect that person’s right to privacy in their financial affairs. Judges may close it at that request.

This is the subdivision that reassures relatives who are not parties to the case and who reasonably do not want their savings, their business accounts or their property discussed in an open courtroom.

How a hold comes off

There are two routes on the face of the statute, and both end with a judge.

• Subdivision (c). The defense makes the showing, and the court releases the hold.
• Subdivision (j). Where the defendant has met the (c) burden and will be released on a bail bond issued under Penal Code § 1269 or § 1269b by an admitted surety insurer, or by a bail agent approved by the Insurance Commissioner, the judge shall vacate the holding order — on the condition that the consideration for the bail bond is approved by the court.

Subdivision (h) confirms who may bring the application in the first place: the defendant personally, the defense attorney, a bail agent licensed by the Department of Insurance, an admitted surety insurer licensed by the Department of Insurance, a friend, or a family member.

What a bail agency can and cannot do here

We cannot lift a 1275 hold, and neither can any other bail agency. No one outside the court can. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either describing something else or selling you something.

What we can do is narrower and still useful. We can tell you whether a hold is genuinely what is stopping the release, or whether the obstacle is something else entirely — a warrant out of another county, an immigration matter, a booking that has not finished. We can explain what the court will be looking at, so the conversation with a defense attorney starts further along. And once a judge vacates the hold, we can post the bond, including at night and at weekends. The showing under subdivision (c) itself belongs to a defense attorney, and we say so plainly rather than taking a premium on a release that cannot happen yet.

For the wider picture — how a bail figure is arrived at, what a bond is, and what happens after release — see how bail works in California.

Where holds tend to appear

In our experience across Orange County and the surrounding Los Angeles County courts, source-of-funds declarations cluster around cases where the charge is itself about money or property — larger theft and fraud filings, and drug cases where cash was seized at the same time as the arrest. They are far less common on misdemeanor bookings, and they are not a routine feature of felony cases generally.

Orange County felony arrests are held at the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana, and the case is heard at the justice center for the city of arrest. If there is also an outstanding warrant, clearing the hold does not clear the warrant — they are separate obstacles and each has to be dealt with on its own terms.

Questions families ask us

Can I pay the bail in cash to avoid a hold?

No. Subdivision (a) applies to cash deposits in exactly the same way it applies to a bond — the words are consideration, pledge, security, deposit, or indemnification. Cash is often what draws the declaration in the first place.

How long does a 1275 hold last?

The statute sets no fixed duration. It lasts until the court releases it under subdivision (c), or vacates it under subdivision (j). What the statute does set is the 24-hour limit in subdivision (g) for acting on a declaration that has been filed.

Does a hold mean the money is being seized?

No. A hold under § 1275.1 governs whether bail can be accepted. Forfeiture and seizure of property are separate proceedings under different law.

Can a family member post bail if the defendant is the one with the problem?

The statute does not bar it — subdivision (h) expressly contemplates a friend or family member applying. But the source test in subdivision (a) covers whoever puts the money up, so the question simply moves to that person’s funds rather than disappearing.

Is a 1275 hold the same as being held without bail?

No. Bail has usually already been set. A hold prevents it from being accepted. A no-bail booking is a different situation, most often arising from a probation violation or an offense for which a hearing is required before release.

Do we need an attorney?

For the subdivision (c) showing, yes — that is a courtroom proceeding with a burden of proof, and it is not something a bail agency is licensed to conduct. We are glad to talk through where things stand first, at no cost, so you know what you are actually dealing with before you retain anyone.

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