Bail bonds
When a person is incarcerated and booked for a serious criminal offense, they must wait in jail till a bail hearing. It is at this bail hearing that the judge sets the bail amount. If that person can't raise the amount, they need to remain in jail till their court date. However that does not always need to be the case; they can also seek out the help of a bondsman.
Unfortunately, most people end up remaining in jail till their court appearance since the majority of 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 trustworthy and cost effective bail bond agents in Calhoun County.
What is a bail bond?
When you or a family member lands in prison, the first order of business is leaving prison as soon as possible. Depending on the backlog of cases, the judge may not be able to get to your case for quite some time. During that period, you have to stay in prison except when you get out on bail.
There are a number of factors that will affect the bail amount, and if your case is bailable to begin with). For example, the court will take a look at your criminal record, the seriousness of the crime you are being charged with, if you are a flight risk and if you are able to pay for the bail.
Why should I care about bail?
Unless you want to remain in jail, you have to make bail. However, not many people are able to afford it, which is why a bondsman is vital to anybody who would like to wait for their trial outside of prison.
The amount of bail {will vary|depends on a lot of different aspects. For example, two persons that committed the same criminal offense can have very different amounts of bail. This is because the judge will take into consideration your financial circumstances, prior arrests, your family ties to the area, and whether you pose a flight risk.
In most states, the cost of a bail bond is normally 10-20% of the overall bail amount, and you will not get this back.
Also, the bondsman can help you maneuver around the complicated judicial procedures. It's more convenient to employ their services then to deal with the court by yourself.
How the bail bonds process works
Bear in mind: In case you get arrested and taken into custody for a supposed crime, immediately request for a lawyer to speak for you and protect your civil rights. Furthermore, call a reliable family member to connect you with a bail agent to begin the bail procedure. As soon as this contact is made, the bail bondsman will want answers to simple questions like the suspect's name, date of birth, and the place or city of the arrest. The bondsman will then offer to pay the bail money in your place in return for a reasonable service fee. Once the agreement is made, the bondsman will move forward with the necessary actions to secure your release. Within hours, after the actions taken by your bondsman, you can walk out of jail, a free man once more.
What your bondsman needs from you
After you or your representative get in contact with a bail bondsman, the latter will ask the following questions:
- The full name of the defendant
- The name and location of the prison where the accused is held
- The booking number in the police blotter
- The charges filed against the defendant
- Any extra important info
Will the bail bondsman require collateral ?
Whether or not a bondsman will want collateral for providing bail differs between cases, however, it is a common practice in the industry. As for the sort of collateral that is accepted, the list is just way too long to mention all. Suffice to say that if a bail bondsman believes that an item has value, it can be used as collateral. Below are just a couple of examples:
- Real estate or land
- Cars, boats, yachts
- Jewelry or gemstones
- Shares, stocks or equities
- Bank accounts
- TV, appliances or other electronics
- Antiques or art collections
- Farm equipment
And if available, you could also make use of payment options offered by a bonding company.
When you or a family member are in danger of remaining in prison for quite some time simply because you can not come up with the amount of money, a bail bondsman is the only course of action that is left. On our site you can look for a bonding company in Calhoun County. A lot of them are open for business day and night.
