3 Things To Know Before You Hire A Bondsman For Bail Money
Posted on: 22 June 2017
If you were just arrested for the first time in your life, the entire process used in criminal law can be confusing. While there are a lot of things you will need to know and learn about the process, one of the main things you will need to know is how to get out of jail. Most people get out of jail by contacting a bail bondsman for help, and here are three important things to know about this part in the criminal-law process.
A Bail Bond Allows You To Get Out of Jail For 10%
When a person is charged with a crime and is arrested, the court sets an amount for the bail. Minor crimes typically have lower bail amounts, while serious crimes have high amounts. There are also crimes that are so severe that the court will not even set a bail amount. In any case, a person cannot get out of jail unless he or she pays the bail amount.
If you do not have a lot of money, you may not have enough to pay your bail. In this case, the best solution is calling a bail bond company to bail you out. With this option, you pay the bail bond company 10% of the bail amount, and they will take care of the rest. In exchange, you must agree to certain things.
You Must Sign A Contract
Hiring a bail bond company to bail you out is not free. The company, first of all, gets to keep the 10% you paid them. This is not something you will ever get back, and you can consider it the fees for the loan. The loan is the other 90% of the bail money you needed to get out. The bail bond company covers this amount, and you will have to sign a contract that states that you will show up for your court hearings.
If you show up for all your court hearings, the court will eventually release the bond money to the company that paid the bail bond. You will not see any of this money. If you fail to show up for court, you will be responsible for repaying the 90%. This will clearly be stated on the contract you sign, and the bail bondsman will come after you for this money. If you fail to repay it, you will be in trouble. The best thing you can do is show up to your hearings, and you must show up to every hearing.
The Alternative
If you have no intention of showing up to your court hearing, or if you do not want to pay a bail bondsman to get you out of jail, you could choose to stay in jail. This is your only option, and you would be required to stay there until your first hearing, or longer. If, at your first hearing, the judge determines that there is no reason to keep you locked up in jail during your trial, the judge may order the jail to release you. In this case, you could get out right after the hearing is over.
If the judge determines that you are a flight risk or that your crime is too severe to let you out, he or she may set a large bail amount or decide not to offer a bail amount to you.
Going through a criminal trial can take time. In fact, some cases take years to settle. If you do not want to spend the next year or so in jail, you may need to hire a bail bond company to help you get out of jail. You can learn more by going here.
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