How do bail and bail bonds work?

Answer 1

You put up property or pay the amount of cash required. If you show up for your court date, you get your money returned to you. If you have to hire a bailbondsman, he keeps a certain percentage of the amount as his fee. If you do not appear your bail is forfeited and you are arrested.

Answer 2

In short a client pays a bail bondsman to secure their release from jail. The bail bondsman will pay the full amount of the bail and will receive that amount back when the client shows up for their court date. The client pays the bail bondsman a percentage of the total bond amount. The percentage will be different between states, counties, and in most cases based upon the crime(s) committed. There are also many different types of bail bonds available (i.e. vehicle and Immigration).

Added: Left unsaid in the above answer: The payment for the bond to be posted must be paid to the bailbondsman IN ADVANCE.

Answer 3

They are like loan companies, in a way. If you are arrested and are eligible to be released on...say... $10,000. bail - you can contract with a bailbondsman who will put up a promissory note with the court guaranteeing your $10,000. bail money. The catch is that if you "skip bond" (become a fugitive) the bailbondsman will LOSE the entire $10,000. bail amount which he will have to forfeit to the court. THAT is why bailbondsman so diligently trace down "bail jumpers" so that they can return you for trial and recover their forfeited bond money. For putting their money at risk like this, they customarily charge a percentage of the total amount at risk, say 10%, but it can be higher depending on big a risk they think they are taking with you.

Answer 4

When a person is arrested for a crime, sometimes the judge lets the person put up bail money and not stay in jail until the trial. That money is called a bail bond. Many people do not have all the money themselves and use a bail bondsman.

A judge may set the bail at $ 10,000. The person may not have that amount of money. A bail bondsman might offer to put up the bond if the person will give him $ 1,500. He might have part of it and may be able to borrow the rest of it from friends and relatives. It might be easier to get up 1,500 than 10,000.

Then when he goes to trial, if he put up the money, he gets it back. If the bail bondsman puts up the money, the bondsman gets it back and he is out the 1,500. If he jumps bail and he put up the bail money, he will lose it when he gets caught. If the bail bondsman put it up, bail bondsmen have a team of people that look for those who jumped bail. They find you, kidnap you, and take you back to court. You do not get to fight extradition.

Answer 5

You will be given a hearing, either at arraignment, or shortly thereafter in which the judge will make a ruling on your eligibility for release. If you are adjudged to be bail eligible, either your family (and/or friends) can post the money themselves or hire the services of a bailbondsman, who will charge you a percentage of your total bail amount to pledge your bail to the court.

Answer 6

The bondsman charges a fee to post bail for arrested persons. The amount of bail is set by a judge. In order to be released from jail, the person may give the sheriff or the court clerk that amount of money which will be returned to him when the case is over. But often the person can't raise the amount set by the judge and will pay a bail bond company a fee (usually 10 or 15 percent) to post the money for him. If the person fails to show up for court, the bond company will have to pay the full amount of the bail which was set by the judge. Then the bonding company may hire a bounty hunter to find the person and put him back in jail in order to get the money back from the court.

Answer 7

A person usually has the right to post bail so that they can be released from jail while awaiting trial. If they do not return for trial they are found guilty and the bail is forfeited to the court. If they return the bail is refunded to them and they can defend themselves to the court.

However many times a person does not have enough money to pay the full amount of the bail. In this case they can contact a bail bondsman who will extend them a loan. The usual terms are that the person pays 10% of their bail and the bondsman pays the remaining 90% as a bail bond. The bail bond is a loan with the person returning to appear in court as the collateral for the loan (so that the court will refund the bail to the bondsman, paying off the loan). If the person fails to return then the bondsman has the legal right to pursue them and apprehend them so they can be brought back to the court and the bail refunded to the bondsman.

Answer 8

A bail bondsman supplies the money to get an arrested person released from custody. They usually get a 10% fee from whatever the bond is. When the defendant appears in court for trial the bail is refunded by the court, otherwise it is revoked.

Answer 9

Bail is a set amount of money that acts as insurance between the court and the person in jail (the defendant.) Defendants have the option to pay their bail in cash, but many cannot do this.

Since bail is often set at a high amount, most defendants are financially unable to post bail by themselves. They seek help from a bail agent, or Bail Bondsman, who posts a Bail Bond for them.

A Bail Bond is a type of surety bond provided by a surety bond company through a bail agent or Bail Bondsman that secures the release of a defendant from jail.

A judge sets a bail amount. If the defendant cannot pay the bail amount on their own, they can seek help from a Bail bondsman in the form of a Bail Bond.

To post a Bail Bond, a defendant is usually required to pay a Bail bondsman 10% of the bail amount.

The Bail bondsman will then secure the rest of the bail amount in the form of collateral. If the defendant does not have enough collateral, the Bail Bondsman might seek out relatives and friends to assist in covering the bail.

Often times, an additional cash payment plus full collateral is required for a Bail Bond to be posted.

What happens next depends on if the defendant appears in court after being released.

If the defendant fails to appear in court: The Bail Bond is forfeited and the court requires the remaining 90% of the bail to be paid. The Bail Bondsman will use the defendant’s collateral (house, jewelry, stocks, etc) to pay the court the remaining bail amount.

If a defendant does appear for court: Upon conclusion of the court case, the Bail Bond is dissolved and the collateral is returned to the person who posted it. The Bail bondsman keeps the 10% cash fee as profit.

Answer 10

Charges for his service. Usually 10 percent of the bond. $500 bond, he gets $50. For this he takes the risk of you jumping bail and having to pay the bail out of his own pocket.