Bail bonds
In its essence, a bail bond is a sort of promise that you will attend the court hearing at the date specified. In return, you are permitted to walk free despite the fact that you are still awaiting trial for a criminal or civil charge. Otherwise, you will stay prison while awaiting the court to decide on either acquittal or conviction. A bondsman can pay bail for you and get you released from jail.
Depending on the charge, the amount of bail could be steep. Few defendants can put up the bail. Certainly there's a good reason why the correctional system is overburdened. But there's a lawful manner in which to earn your temporary release from prison even if your lawsuit is on-going. Using our site you can search for a trustworthy bonding company in Sauk County.
Use a bail bond to gain temporary freedom after an arrest
The judicial system permits a bail bondsman to put up a bail bond, also known as surety bond, to help individuals apprehended and charged with a criminal offense get temporarily released from jail while awaiting their court appearance.
The law allows two kinds of bail -- a criminal bail bond and a civil bail bond.
To make it clear, a court does not require a criminal bail bond to penalize you for your alleged criminal offense. You are still innocent till proven guilty. Nevertheless, the court requires an assurance that you will show up at trial to face your accuser; thus, the need to post bail. If you show up at all your scheduled criminal procedures as required, and you are eventually found not guilty, the bail amount will be returned to you. If you are found guilty, the bail money will be used to take care of the penalties and fines that the judge might enforce on you. When you skip the court appearances, the bail will be forfeited and you will be subject to getting arrested.
On the other hand, the civil bail bonds imposed on civil cases work as a guarantee or a surety with the court where the financial obligations, claims, and charges enforced on the defendant can be paid from.
How helpful is a bail bond?
A bonding company is your biggest hope to not spend too much time in prison when you don't have sufficient money available to pay your bail. A bail bond company usually charges a non-refundable rate of 10% of the total bail amount. That is no more than reasonable, considering the risk the bail bondsman is taking in putting up the bond. Anyway, the most important thing is to get you released from jail, and for that have to search for a dependable bail bondsman in your local area.
A deal with a bonding company is also handy since they will assist in your release from jail, simplifying a difficult legal procedure. You can simply reach out to a bail bondsman who can offer you an agreement and request you to provide the relevant info about yourself, or someone you want to bail out of jail. In case you agree to the agreement, you can just sit tight and wait for the bonding company to post the bail on your behalf.
Obviously you still have to be at your hearing. But now that you're free on a bond, you can show up in court in your own clothes. When you had stayed in prison because you could not post bail, you would show up in court in a jail jumpsuit -- and that does not make a good impression. A bondsman enables you to make a decent appearance before the judge, which matters a whole lot considering that first impressions matter.
How does the bail bonds process work
Keep in mind: When you get arrested and booked for an alleged criminal offense, immediately demand for an attorney to work with you and protect your legal rights. In addition, call a trusted family member to connect you with a bondsman to initiate the bail bonds process. Once this is done, the bonding company will need answers to simple questions such as the accused's name, date of birth, and the location or city of the arrest. The bondsman will then offer to put up the bail money on your behalf in return for a service fee. As soon as the agreement is made, the bonding company will continue with the actions to secure your release from jail. In a matter of hours, after the action taken by your bail bondsman, you can walk out of jail, a free man once again.
What details does a bail bondsman need?
When you get in touch with a bondsman, they will need to know:
- The full name and age of the defendant
- The prison where the suspect is locked up
- The booking reference number and the charges
Will the bondsman require collateral ?
If a bonding company requires collateral for differs between cases, but it is commonplace in the industry. Regarding the type of collateral that is acceptable, the list is simply way too long to mention all. Suffice to say that if a bondsman believes that an item has value, it could be used as collateral. Listed below are just a couple of examples:
- Real estate or property
- Vehicles, boats, yachts
- Jewelry or gems
- Shares, stocks or equities
- Bank accounts
- TV, appliances or gadgets
- Antiques or art collections
- Farm equipment
And when available, you could also make use of payment plans provided by a bail bondsman.
If you or a family member run the risk of staying in prison for quite some time simply because you are not able to get the amount, a bondsman is the only course of action that is left. By using our website you can search for a bail bondsman in Sauk County. Most of them are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
