Before you seek out the assistance of a bail bonds firm, there are a few things you will need. You will be asked to provide some basic information about your family member or friend. Such as the name of the person arrested, the name of the jail they were taken to and if you have it the booking number or date of birth. This will help the bail bondsman locate your family member or friend. This article aims to answer all other questions you might have about hiring a 24-hour bail bonds company.
There are Several Types of Bail Bonds Offered in California.
There are a few types of bail bonds that are offered in the State of California.
- Cash Bail: You may always post cash bail, however, posting cash bail will require the full amount of the bail bond to be posted directly to the court or the jail and must be posted by certified check or cashier’s check and funds must be verified prior to the defendant being released. Credit cards are typically not accepted.
- Property Bail Bonds: If you own your home, you may put your home up as collateral directly to the court. However, this is a very time-consuming process and could take anywhere between 5-10 business days to complete. Typically, the court will have to verify several factors. That there is enough equity in the home usually to cover 1 and ½ times the amount of the bail bond.
- Surety Bail Bonds: This type of bail bond is the most common used in the State of California. This is where you work directly with a 24-hour bail bonds company. The bail bonds company will charge you a fee and will vary depending on your situation. However, this fee is typically anywhere from 7-10%. The bail bonds company will have you sign some paperwork and they will take the bail bonds to the jail and get your family member or friend out of jail.
What Happens if the Defendant Doesn’t Appear in Court?
If you work with a Bail Bond Service in Orange County (or anywhere else for that matter) and the defendant fails to appear in court as required, several things are going to happen. First, the court will forfeit the bail bond that was posted and send a notice to the Bail Bonds Company. Once the bail bonds company receives the notice, they will start investigating the whereabouts of the defendant. If the bail bonds company cannot locate the person within the time the court allows, the bail bonds company will have to pay the full amount of the bail bond to the court. The indemnitor (Co-signer) and the accused (Defendant) are fully responsible for all costs incurred by the bail bonds company. You can contact a 24-hour bail bond company anytime day or night.
The Premium (Bail Bond Fee) Will Not Be Refunded.
Bail Bond Services help you cover bail amounts that you typically cannot afford on your own, but they don’t offer this service for free. Usually in California, they will ask you for a 10% fee of the full bail bond amount. This amount is called the bail bond premium and is a non-refundable fee. The moment the accused is released from jail or court the bail bond fee is fully earned by the bail bonds company.
To learn more, visit our FAQ Page for more information about things you should know.
Let’s Recap, Shall we?
- There are several ways to post Bail in California.
- Do you trust your friend or family member? You’re responsible for them appearing in court.
- Bail Bonds fees are non-refundable once the accused is released from custody.
TL;DR? (Too long; didn’t read) Check out this video:
It is interesting that you can put your house up for collateral to the court if there is enough equity in the home to cover at least 1 and 1/2 times the amount of the bail bond. My wife and I watch a lot of crime movies that have people getting bailed out and we were wondering how much bailing someone out costs. If we needed a bail bond or something like that, we’d consider hiring a professional to help us.
Hello James,
The bail amount is set by the court depending on the seriousness of the charge, the risk to the public and whether or not the defendant is a flight risk.
It really helped when you said that using a property as collateral to the court can be a time-consuming process. We were just thinking of using the family home to get our father out since he owns it under his name but we need to get him out immediately. I think it would be easier for us to look for a bail bondsman who can help us with the cash amount that we needed.