When one gets arrested for an offense in business or in any commercial offense, they are detained awaiting their court date, until the judge makes a decision to release them on their own recognizance or until they are released on bail. A bail is a fixed amount of money as insurance between the court and the detained person or defendant. They have the option to pay in cash, however, not everyone can do this so they opt for bail bonds.
What is a Bail Bond and how is it different from Bail?
Often times, most defendants are monetarily incapable to post bail by themselves because bail is frequently set at an amount that’s high. They then ask for the assistance of a bail bond agent who will post a bail bond for them. A bail bond is a kind of security bond presented by a surety bond company through a bail bond agent that handles and secures the release of a defendant from jail.
How does a Bail Bond work?
When a judge sets the amount of bail and the defendant cannot pay for it on their own, they may obtain the service and help of a bail bond agent through a Bail Bond. Most often, the defendant is obligated to compensate a bail bond agent 10% of the amount of bail to post a Bail Bond. After that, the bail bond agent will secure the remaining bail amount through collateral. In case the defendant does not have sufficient collateral, the bail bond agent may search for relations and friends to lend a hand in covering the amount of bail. Most often, an added cash payment together with full collateral is necessary for a Bail Bond to be posted. After being released, what happens next will depend on if the defendant shows up in court or not.
A bail bond is forfeited and the court requires the remaining 90% of the bail to be paid if the defendant fails to show up in court. The bail bond agent will use the defendant’s collateral to pay the court the rest of the bail amount.
If the defendant shows up for court and upon the end of the court case, the bail bond dissolves and the collateral is returned to the person who posted it and the bail bond agent keeps the 10% fee as profit.