How Do Bail Bondsmen Work?
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Nature of Bail Bond Work
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A bail bondsman provides bail money for an accused person to get out of jail. There are two kinds of bondsmen, surety and professional. A professional bail bondsman pledges his own property as security to guarantee the bond to the state and a surety bail bondsman has the backing of an insurance company and is additionally able to post federal and immigration bail bonds. Bail bondsmen earn their living by charging a percentage of the bail amount. They work between an office base and courthouses and jails, on call 24/7, often getting calls at all hours from clients seeking a way out of jail. Bail bondsmen use bounty hunters to search for and apprehend clients who jump bail, or don't show up for their court dates. Their work is stressful, people-intensive, financially risky, and can be dangerous.
Bail Bondsmen Customers
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Bail bondsmen's clients are people who have been arrested for a crime, are in jail, and who want to get out of jail by posting bail. Sometimes the customers are friends or family members of the defendant who are co-signing the bail bond for them. Many bail bondsmen's customers are criminals, but many are first time offenders, or even victims. Posting bail allows them to spend their time awaiting court and trial out of jail rather than incarcerated.
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Bail Process
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A bond is a contract, an agreement with the court, the bondsman, and the prisoner, that if the prisoner is released on bail, the prisoner will show up at all court dates or bail is forfeited to the court. If the prisoner doesn't keep all court dates, the bail bondsman has to pay the court the full amount of bail, and then collect the bail amount from the accused or any co-signers. Conditions of this contract include the bail bondsman's right to charge a premium for signing the bond, usually 10 percent of the total amount of bail, and the right to return the prisoner to jail within a certain amount of time if court dates are not kept.
When an accused person in jail seeks a bail bondsman, she may call the bondsman from jail or call a friend or relative and ask him to call the bondsman. The bondsman will get all the information necessary about the defendant and the case, collect a premium of 10 percent of the total bail amount, write a bond, and go to the jail to file the bail bond and get the defendant released. The defendant, now a client of the bail bondsman, signs a contract agreeing to stay in close contact with the bondsman and attend every court date ordered by the court or risk being returned to jail and losing the bail money.
When a bondsman has a new client, a file on the defendant is opened with name, address, place of employment, date of birth, social security number, driver's license number, and any previous criminal record. The client is interviewed, along with any family or friends who may have contacted the bondsman, and the client's case is analyzed for things such as how cooperative is the defendant, the severity of the charges, whether the client is a repeat offender or if it's a single incident, if the client is employed, and the amount of bail required. There are weekly calls to the client regarding court dates. If the client is uncooperative, such as not answering or returning calls or changing the phone number without notifying the bail bondsman of new contact information, it's cause for concern and may require the assistance of a bounty hunter to locate the client. The bondsman will have access to court listings of court dates for clients and will be notified of any missed court dates.
Typical Day for a Bail Bondsman
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Bail bondsmen work from a business office base where computerized and hard copy records are kept on clients. A typical workday starts at the office checking messages, reviewing files and making calls. The bondsman bails clients out of jail, checks to see if clients are keeping court dates, and collects money owed. During the course of a normal workday, a bail bondsman will interact with office staff, lawyers, police, insurance agents, court personnel, clients and bail co-signers. It's a busy and stressful job. Many bail bond agencies have overnight on-call staff who process incoming requests that the day staff administer.
Bail Bond Funds
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Bail bond funds are money and assets of the professional bondsman put up as guarantee that the defendant will return to court as required. Surety bondsmen have the backing of an insurance company as further insurance of the funds. A bail bondsman who has a client who does not keep in contact or show up for court dates is at risk of losing the full amount of the bail money and may take the client back to jail to avoid losing the bail money.
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