Bail bonds
When a person is jailed and charged for a serious criminal offense, they must wait in jail until a bail hearing. It is during this bail hearing that the judge determines the bail amount. If that individual can't raise the amount of money, they need to remain in prison up until their court hearing. However that does not always need to hold true; they can also seek out the services of a bail bondsman.
Regrettably, most people wind up staying in prison up until their court date because many do not have a large sum of cash available in the bank.
Our site will help you with bailing out your loved ones by connecting you to credible and inexpensive bail bond agents in Douglas County.
Why does a judge impose bail ?
The law allows the services of a bail bondsman to post a bail bond, also referred to as surety bond, to help a defendant gain temporary liberty while awaiting their court appearance.
The law allows two types of bail bond-- a criminal bail bond and a civil bail bond.
To be clear, a court does not require a criminal bail bond to penalize you for your supposed criminal offense. You are still innocent up until proven guilty. However, the judge needs to have an assurance that you will show up at trial to face your accuser; hence, the requirement to post bail. If you participate in all of your arranged criminal procedures as required, and you are in the end found not guilty, the bail amount will be repaid to you. In case you are found guilty, the bail amount will be used to take care of the fines and penalties that the court might impose on you. When you skip the court appearances, the bail will be lost and you will be subject to getting arrested.
The same reasoning holds with civil bail bonds. The bail imposed on civil cases works as an assurance or a surety that the suspect will be capable to pay the fines and penalties that the court may enforce on the suspect after the trial.
How beneficial is a bail bond?
A bonding company is your biggest hope to not spend considerable time in prison in case you don't have enough money available for bail. A bonding company typically asks for a non-refundable rate of 10% of the bail amount. That is no more than fair, considering the risk the company is taking in putting up the bail bond. In any case, the most important thing is to get you released from prison, and for that to happen have to find a reputable bail bondsman in your area.
An agreement with a bonding company is also valuable because the latter can assist in your release from prison, simplifying a complex legal process. You can just call a bail agent who can offer you an agreement and request you to give the necessary information about yourself, or someone you intend to bail out of prison. In case you agree to the deal, you can simply sit tight and wait for the bondsman to post the bail for you.
Obviously you still need to show up at your hearing. However, now that you're out on a bond, you can appear before a judge in your own clothes. When you had stayed in prison for failure to pay bail, you would appear in court in a prison jumpsuit -- and that's not a pretty sight to see. A bondsman makes it possible for you to make a respectable appearance in court, which really matters a lot because first impressions count.
Here's how the bail bonds process works
In case you are detained and charged with an alleged criminal offense, the first thing that you should do is to get in touch with a attorney and somebody, perhaps even the attorney himself, that can hook you up with a bondsman to begin the bail bonds process. You or your representative can work with the bondsman that is going to ask you common questions such as the accused's name, date of birth, and the place or city of the arrest. The bondsman will then provide you an agreement for posting your bail bond. Upon your approval of the agreement, the bail bondsman will take care of all the formalities to to get you released from prison. With the help of the bondsman, you can get out of jail and enjoy the company of your family once again.
What information does a bondsman need?
When you speak with a bonding company, they will need to know:
- The full name and age of the suspect
- The location where the accused is locked up
- The booking reference number and the charge
Will the bail bondsman require collateral ?
If a bonding company will want collateral for putting up bail will vary between cases, but it is common in the industry. As for the sort of collateral that is acceptable, the list is simply too long to mention everything. Suffice to say that if a bondsman thinks that something has value, it could be used as collateral. Listed below are just a few examples:
- Real estate or property
- Vehicles, boats, yachts
- Jewelry or gemstones
- Shares, stocks or equities
- Bank accounts
- TV, appliances or gadgets
- Antiques or art
- Farm equipment
And if available, you could also take advantage of payment options provided by a bondsman.
When you or your loved ones run the risk of staying in jail for a long time because you are not able to raise the amount, a bail bondsman is the only alternative that is left. By using our website you can search for a bondsman in Douglas County. A lot of them are open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
