There may come a time in a person's life that they will need the services of a bail bonds agent.
Sometimes it's best to get acquainted with something like bail before one is put in a situation where one needs to post bail.
Basically bail allows a person accused of a crime to be free until their day in court.
There are a lot of factors that comes into play when a judge decides on whether or not a person can make bail and how much they should pay for.
Below is a discussion on some of the more common questions commonly asked by people who know nothing about bail.
What determines the price of bail? A court takes numerous factors into deliberation before deciding on a how much the accused needs to pay in order to post bail.
A judge may refer to what is known as a bail schedule, which is essentially a list of several crimes and the corresponding amount that needs to be posted.
It must be noted that bail schedules often encompass most of common crime and that there are other offenses not covered by the bail schedule.
In the event that a particular criminal offense is not on the bail schedule, a judge may decide at their discretion if the accused is allowed to post bail and by how much.
In the event of a minor crime a judge may release the accused under their own recognizance.
This basically means that the judge trusts the accused to attend the day of their trial.
Who are people supposed to call? There are a lot of bail bonds agencies out there that can help a person make bail.
A person may opt to pay for their own bail or ask a friend or family to do it for them.
If the accused knows of no one and does not possess the funds, they may choose to use the service of a bail bonds agent.
The accused simply pays the bail bondsman a percentage fee of the bail, which ranges from 10% of bail all the way up to 15% of the amount.
This fee serves as the compensation for the services offered by the bail bondsman.
Sometimes, bail bondsmen also ask their clients to compensate them for various other expenses such as gas money, phone calls, and so on.
In certain areas, bondsmen require a minimum fee of $100 to avail of their services.