You’ve likely have heard of bail and of bail bondsmen, though you may not understand exactly what a bail bondsman does. In a previous blog post, we discussed in detail how bail bonds work, but we haven’t dived into the details about how a bail bondsman works. You might have a few questions such as: Who are they? What do they do? How can they help? In this blog post, we will give an answer to these pressing questions and this one: What do bail bondsmen do?
In order to best understand a bail bondsman, you must first understand how bail works. Since posting bail is their primary purpose, then this is a necessity to understand who bail bondsmen are and how they can help.
How Bail Works
As discussed above, before we can answer the question: “What do bail bondsmen do?” we have to go over how bail works. A lot of factors go into bail. When someone is arrested for a crime, they will be placed in front of a judge who sets the bail amount: how much it will cost for them to get bailed out of jail before their set court date. A lot of times, a judge will use a “bail schedule” to set the amount. This “schedule” has a set amount for how much it could cost to bail a defendant out of jail for a distinct crime. The judge will use this as a guideline for determining the amount.
A lot of times, the family of the defendant does not have the necessary funds to be able to pay the bail amount. In steps the bail bondsman.
What Are Bail Bondsmen?
A bondsman is a skilled professional who you’d reach out to in order to help you post bail for a loved one or a friend. The bondman will usually charge just a 10% fee of the set bail amount. They would then help you get your loved one out of jail. This is a very valuable service. However, in order for the bondsman to ensure that the defendant does not skip out on their court date, they will need collateral.
In the rare case where a defendant does actually skip their court date, the bondsman will have to confiscate this collateral. So if you want to post bail for someone, you have to make sure that 1) you trust them and 2) they will not skip their court date.
Why do they ask for collateral? It is to assure the bondsman that the defendant will not skip out on their court date.
Alliance Bail Bonds Can Help
Now that you have an answer to your question: “What do bail bondsmen do?” You know how important a bail bondsman actually is. If you have a friend or a loved one behind bars, you will likely need to find a reliable bail bondsman to help post bail for them so they can get out of jail. Here at Alliance Bail Bonds, we can be that reliable bail bondsman.
At Alliance Bail Bonds, our office in Daytona Beach is open 24/7. Contact us to get started.