The number of people incarcerated in Florida is higher than every country on Earth. As such, you may have found yourself, or someone you love, in the county jail after committing a crime.
The first thing you may be concerned with is how to get yourself, or someone you love, out of jail. If you can’t afford the bail amount out of pocket, you’ll use bail bonds to help you pay for your, or your loved one’s, release.
In this article, we’ll talk about bail bonds, what they are, how they’re set and how to work with a bail bondsman in Volusia County.
What Happens After Arrest?
Once someone is arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, they’ll be taken to the county jail. At this time, they’ll get “booked” and have a health check before being placed in custody.
Depending on their crime, one of a few things may happen next. If they don’t have a history of offending, they may find themselves released, but with a written warning that they must return to court on a certain date for a hearing.
With more serious crimes, the individual will have bail set depending on the crime they’ve committed. This can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a petty crime, to millions of dollars.
In some cases, the court will decide to hold a bail hearing. If this happens, the individual will have to wait until the bail hearing to find out how much their bail is.
What Determines Bail?
In some cases, the jail will go off the bail schedule set by the state of Florida. This is a write up of how much bail is for each crime.
But, if the individual is high profile or there are other factors at play, there may be an amount set outside of the schedule. This will be set at the bail hearing or by authorities themselves.
How much money the person has is one thing that determines bail, which is why high profile celebrities often have bail set in the millions. This is to deter them from breaking their bail conditions.
Other things that determine bail will be if the person has a past history of not showing up to court. If this is a continual problem the person may have a very high bail amount set, or be denied bail completely.
Whether or not a person is a flight risk will also be taken into account. If the person is just passing through and committed the crime, they may be considered to be a flight risk. But, if the individual has a job and children or other dependants, they are considered less of a flight risk.
The court will then decide how much bail to set or whether or not to deny it altogether.
What Happens If Bail is Denied?
If the court denies you or your loved one bail, there is no option to post it. In this case, they will have to wait for their hearings while in the county jail.
What are the Conditions of Bail?
Bail is, in essence, a promise that you or your loved one will attend court hearings. The bail is kind of a temporary payment that will be given back to the individual once they have appeared in all of the hearings they have been asked to.
If they do not show up to all of the hearings, they will forfeit the money and not get any of it returned to them. If they’ve taken a bail bond, they will now be responsible for the full bail amount.
There may be other conditions of bail as well. These can include not allowing the individual to use drugs, that the individual stays employed or that the individual does not leave the county or state of Florida until their hearings.
If they violate these conditions, they may forfeit their bail.
What are Bail Bonds?
A bail bond is a loan from a bail bond company. For a fee, the bail bond company will post bail for you or your loved one. The bail bondsmen then will be technically responsible for you or your loved one until the court hearing.
The bail bondsmen can turn you or your loved one in if you do not adhere to conditions of bail. They can also track you down in order to turn you into the county jail for violation of your bail conditions.
How Do Bail Bondsmen Work?
If you can’t afford bail, you or a loved one will speak to a bail bondsman. This person will then negotiate a price for you to pay as a downpayment on your bail. A standard rate is 10%, though this may be different for each bondsman.
Some bail bondsmen may also work out payment plans with you, but this may depend on a variety of factors.
After you’ve made your down payment on the bail, they will post bail for you or your loved one. The person will then be free and can start preparing for trial.
When Can I Call a Bail Bondsman?
You can call a bail bondsman as soon as you know the bail amount you or your loved one owes. You can then work with the bail bondsman to pay the down payment and release you from jail.
If you do not reside in Florida, but your loved one is in Florida, you may work with a bail bondsman over the phone and send the money electronically or through money orders.
Our bail bondsman agency is open 24 hours a day to ensure that we can help you when you most need us. Contact us immediately to help get your loved one out of jail and get started on the bail bonds process.