If you have a friend or family member who is arrested and needs to be bailed out of jail, you may not have the cash required to pay the bond. You may want to consider hiring a bail bond agency to pay the bond for them, but you will need to secure the bond to ensure that the agency gets its money back.

Finding a Bondsman

When you are looking for someone to bail a friend or family member out of jail, finding a bail bond agent willing to take a risk and post the bail is not always as easy as just walking into the bond agency and asking them to do so. When the bail bond agency decides to put up the bail for someone in jail, they need to be sure that they show up in court, or the bond can be forfeited, and the agency will lose its money. 

Often, the bail bondsman will require you to pay a percentage of the bail in cash before posting the bond and getting the person released. In many cases, the fee can be several hundred dollars, and in most cases, that fee must be paid in cash before anything else is done. 

There will also be a contract you must sign taking responsibility for getting the person being bonded out to the court on time for the next appearance, or you could forfeit that fee. If you are concerned that the person will show up for their court appearance, you may not want to bail them out, but the bondsman can opt to work with them directly and make them the responsible party, so if they default, they will have to deal with the consequences. 

Arraignment And Bail Adjustments

The bail set when someone is arrested can change when they are arraigned in court before the judge. It is essential to understand that if you hire a bail bond agency to put up the bail for someone, the court can still return them to jail and revoke the bail if they have a history of failing to appear in court or the judge thinks they are a flight risk. 

Often the bail bond agency will not be able to get them back out of jail until the judge sets a new bail, and if that bail is higher than the first, you may need to pay an additional fee to the bail bondsman. The bond agency will go over all the details with you and what you will be responsible for before taking on the bond. In some cases, you may need to visit several to find one to work with if you are bailing out someone with a long criminal history or for a serious crime that would indicate that they may try and run from the charges. 

If you or a loved one needs bail money, reach out to an agency or click here for more information.

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