What Are The Working Modalities of Bail Bonds?

Having an idea about the bail process will help you understand how bail bonds work and who to secure bail. Posting bail after a person’s arrest is the way to avoid jail time, and you need someone to post bail on your behalf. Knowing the bail process will help you explore the available options, generally comprised of making cash payment for posting bail or availing Columbus Bail Bonds.

Soon after arresting a person on criminal charges, the person stays in jail until making the initial court appearance, which takes a few days. This is the stage when the police will initiate the legal proceedings by framing charges against the person and prepares to go to court for trial.  The brief court appearance known as arraignment consists of hearing where the judge sets a bail amount that the person must pay before being set free from jail.

Payment method for posting bail

As told earlier, the court accepts cash payment for posting bail. However, the bail amount might sometime be quite high, which makes it difficult for people to arrange cash in a short time so that they can quickly get out of jail. Besides the high amount, every payment made must have complete traceability. The defendant or the arrested person who posts the bail must amply prove that the money is entirely legal. Failing to prove the legality of money can result in bail refusal. Therefore, the process is not as simple as it appears and might take time, which can defeat the purpose of seeking bail for early release from jail.

Bail bonds

To avoid the often-difficult task of arranging cash for posting bail, an easier way is to approach a bail bondsman who arranges to secure bail by acting a guarantor on behalf of the defendant by posting a bail bond for the determined bail amount. The bond is a document furnished to the court for securing the release of the defendant.

The advantage of a bail bond is that the defendant must pay only 10% of the bail amount to the bail bondsman, and the process is fast. After making the payment, the defendant can sit back while the bondsman goes through the process.

The cost of bail bonds

The bail bondsman charges 10% of the bail amount as premium, and the defendant can avoid paying the full amount which the bondsman takes care of. Whether you pay cash or furnish bail bonds, the defendant will be released only after completion of the process, which is done through a bail bondsman can complete speedily within the day.

In addition to paying the premium to the bail bondsman, it may be necessary to provide collateral security depending on the severity of the charges and the bail amount. Since the bail bondsman acts as a guarantor, to cover the risk, the bondsman might ask for collateral security in the form of immovable property, cash, or any other asset.

The collateral ensures that the defendant would have the urge to appear in court, failing which he or she might lose the collateral and face arrest for jumping bail.