A bail bond is basically a written promise that the defendant and surety sign to make sure that the criminal defendant shows up in court on the scheduled date and time as ordered by the court. The court sets the bail amount.
Aspects of Bail Bond
- When a person is arrested for a crime, they are usually held in jail until the date they are required to appear in court or until they are released from jail on bail. The judge sets the bail during a bail hearing and this amount serves as a form of insurance between the person in jail and the court.
- Since bail can be set to amounts that are deemed to be unaffordable, a defendant may seek the services of a bail bond company, which is comparable to a lender who solely deals with payments that are necessary for getting people out of jail.
- Bail bond companies typically assign bail bond agents to post the bail for the defendant. A surety, also known as the bondsman or bail bond agent, pays the bail. The bondsman typically collects a percentage of the bail amount as a fee for the services being provided.
Collateral
For the bail to be paid so that the person can be released from jail while awaiting trial, the agent may need collateral in the form of a creditworthiness statement, securities, or valuable property.
- Bonds that exceed $1,000 often involve the defendant paying the surety 10% of the bond. There may also be additional fees. The agent proceeds to secure the rest of the amount required for bail in the form of collateral. Find out more at bailbonds4u.com/locations/dayton.
- In case the defendant does not have sufficient collateral, the bail bond agent may seek out friends and relatives to help cover the bail amount.
- The collateral can be used to pay the court the remainder of the bond if the defendant does not appear in court on their scheduled court date.
- The court is paid the cash bond and the bail bond agent collects the collateral along with any other related fees. However, if the defendant appears, the bail bond will be dissolved after the court case is concluded and the collateral will be returned to the person who posted it.
- The percentage of the bail charged is kept by the surety as earnings or income. If you want to buy surety bonds then learn details about them.
Appeal Process
A bail bond aims to fulfill the goal of preventing the appeal process from being abused when the intent for appeal is for another reason other than what it is intended for.
Posting Bond
After the judge sets bail, the suspect is typically eligible for release once the bail has been posted in cash or assets. They can seek the services of a bail bondsman if the defendant or their family does not have sufficient money or assets to cover the bail.
The bondsman usually takes a percentage of the posted bond amount depending on what is stipulated by the state and supplies the rest of the money for the suspect to leave jail and continue with their day-to-day lives.
