The Bail Bond Process

The best way to explain bail bonds so people understand is to first explain how bail works if you put up Cash Bail. Let's say for example the bail is $10,000. A friend or family member can take $10,000 cash to the jail to get the person out. The full $10,000 will be held by the court to gaurantee that the person will make all of their court appearences. If the person were to skip bail, the Indemnitor would lose the $10,000 if they could not get the Defendant back to court. If the Defendant does make all of their court appearences, then about 6-8 weeks after the case is over the court mails the Indemnitor a check for the full $10,000.

Here's how it works with a Bail Bond:
Let's say the bail is $10,000. Then the cost of the bond is $1,000. That's the fee to put up the $10,000 and it is called the Premium. You do not get the $1,000 back. Once the person walks out of the jail, that money is spent. Whether they are out of jail for one minute or one year, it's the same price. If charges are not filled, case dismissed, false arrest, etc. you do not get the premium back. But on the other hand if the case goes on for several months, maybe a year, they have the benefit of being free and being able to live a normal life in between court dates instead of being locked up.

Whatever you give us for collateral you do get back when the bond is exonerated and your account is paid in full. Quite often, people will call and say the judge, bailiff, court clerk or someone at the court told them their bond was exonerated and they can go get their money back from the bail bondsman. They must be referring to collateral not realizing bail bondsman don't take collateral on every transaction anymore.