can someone explain bail bonds and bounty hunters?

Question

Husband and I were watching Dog Bounty hunter, we were curious the way it works with the money? The whole process really it looks to us like he makes a good deal of money.

Answer 1

'Bail' is paid to the court by the defendant to guarantee that they will show up for trial. No show, and the court keeps the money. The amount of bail is usually so high that you will think twice, or more, about leaving town. If you don't show, the court sends the sheriff to find you.

If you don't have all that cash, then bail bond companies will loan you the money - you put up 10% (usually cash or property) and they loan you the other 90%. They promise to the court that if you skip bail, the court will get the full amount. If you skip, the bail bond company will get a bench warrant, and send Dog or equivalent after you to bring you back. (Bounty hunters are licensed, and are officers of the court.)

If you play it smart and decide to show up to court, the bail bond company keeps all of your deposit - that's how they earn their money.

Answer 2

Bail is money or property rights deposited with a court to ensure that a person charged with a crime will appear in court. If the person charged can't afford the price, for typically 10% of the price a bail bondsman will post the bail. If the person then "skips" (doesn't show up in court), the bondsman is out the entire bail. So, he/she might have to hire a bounty hunter to find the person to get their money back. Sorry, don't know how the bounty hunter gets paid.

Answer 3

Bail bond is money to be paid to the court to make sure that you would return on the date of your trial, a deposit of sort. When you call a bond company, they pay the bail for you and charge you an interest with an understanding that you would go to trial on your scheduled date. If you appear for your trial, the bond money gets the bond money back. If you miss the date, the bond compnany loose their money. Thus they need to hire bounty hunters to hunt you down and drag you back to trial.

Answer 4

Say, somebody gets arrested. they have bail for the can charge set at $10,000....They call a bail bondsmen. He posts a bond. Now, it is to no longer say that he places down $10,000. in funds. he's many times registered interior the county the place he works and documents place of work work swearing that he's worth, oh, enable's say, 4 million funds, or he has sources amounting to 4 million funds and can disguise the $10,000. He signs and indications the bond and gets his "customer" out of detention center. on the day whilst the customer is meant to ensue for courtroom, he does not. Now, the courtroom needs that $10,000. the guy has skipped bond. If somebody does not instruct sturdy reason for the "customer" no longer displaying up in courtroom the bail bondsmen forfeits that bond and has to cough up $10,000. it is whilst the bounty hunters circulate finding for the bail jumper. The bail bondsmen rates the customer a undeniable proportion of the bond, many times 10-20 in step with cent, it is how they make their money....

Answer 5

Never Never Ever Post A Cash Bail Bond (Jail Bond) In Florida.

You may ask yourself, “Why should I pay a bail bondsman a 10% fee when I can pay the full cash amount for the bail bond at the jail and avoid the fee?!” Good question, however its not like it was in the old days when you could get your money back if all obligations were fulfilled.

Nowadays, the counties, municipalities, and government officials of the State of Florida will take your cash bond without recourse. The cash bond can even be taken and applied to charges in a defendants previous cases. Those officials will dream up fines and fees to be applied to your cash-bond to make sure that little or nothing is repaid.

Here is the Statute.
Title XLVII
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND CORRECTIONS
Chapter 903
BAIL
903.286 Return of cash bond; requirement to withhold unpaid fines, fees, court costs; cash bond forms.—
(1) Notwithstanding s. 903.31(2), the clerk of the court shall withhold from the return of a cash bond posted on behalf of a criminal defendant by a person other than a bail bond agent licensed pursuant to chapter 648 sufficient funds to pay any unpaid costs of prosecution, costs of representation as provided by ss. 27.52 and 938.29, court fees, court costs, and criminal penalties. If sufficient funds are not available to pay all unpaid costs of prosecution, costs of representation as provided by ss. 27.52 and 938.29, court fees, court costs, and criminal penalties, the clerk of the court shall immediately obtain payment from the defendant or enroll the defendant in a payment plan pursuant to s. 28.246.
(2) All cash bond forms used in conjunction with the requirements of s. 903.09 must prominently display a notice explaining that all funds are subject to forfeiture and withholding by the clerk of the court for the payment of costs of prosecution, costs of representation as provided by ss. 27.52 and 938.29, court fees, court costs, and criminal penalties on behalf of the criminal defendant regardless of who posted the funds.
History.—s. 57, ch. 2005-236; s. 3, ch. 2008-224; s. 1, ch. 2013-112.

Prior to the enactment of section 903.286 Florida Statutes on July 1, 2005, there was no statutory authorization for the deduction of costs or fines from cash bail deposited by a defendant. So the legislature of the State of Florida reasons that your hard earned money that you paid to bail out a defendant from jail becomes in essence the property of the defendant and thus the property of the State.
The State of Florida's taking of an innocent person's property is tyrannical, uncompromising and unjust. In effect your cash bond is stolen. That's your government hard at work  - for you.

When a bail bond agent writes the bond, the 10 per cent bail bond fee is all a person is ever going to pay as long as the defendant fulfills his obligations. Additionally, bail agencies will notify the indemnitors/co-signers (those who posted the bail bond) of all court dates for defendants, and having been made aware makes it more likely that the defendant will make all court appearances. County clerks and other officials are not obligated to notify defendants of court dates.
Before you post a bail bond, you should know what your responsibilities are. In Florida, if a defendant released on a bail fails to show up in court, the bail agent has 60 days to return the defendant to custody. If the defendant out cannot be returned to jail in that period, the bondsman is legally bound to pay the full amount of the bond to the Clerk of the Court. This is called a bond estreature or bond forfeiture. At this point, you as the indemnitor/cosigner of the bond become liable to the bail bondsman for the amount forfeited, usually the full amount of the bond. The agent then has 10 additional months to return the defendant to custody and receive almost all of the forfeited money back, and has an additional year after that to receive 50% of it back.

But if a person puts up or pays a cash-bond at the jail in care of Clerk of the Court, the monies deposited will not be returned, even if the defendant fulfills all his obligations and never misses a court appearance. The laws concerning the returning of a cash-bond to a depositor are vague at best and are always in the State of Florida's favor. If the defendant misses one court appearance, or disappears for a couple of days the depositor will forfeit all of the monies that were posted for the cash-bond. If a bondsman handles the release from jail, however, the laws are clearly spelled out by state statute and the indemnitor is protected, only being liable for any cost of bringing the defendant (bond skipper) back to custody after a breach of a bond.

If the indemnitor/cosigner on a bail bond begins to get nervous and begins to suspect that the defendant they signed for and posted the bond for becomes a risk to abscond or run away and not fulfill their obligations or make any of their court appearances, the bail bondsman with whom the bond was placed, has the power to revoke that person’s bond and return them to custody. At that point, when the defendant is returned to jail, the co-signer’s liability is nil and their money or collateral is not at risk of being taken.

A cash-bond depositor has no such power to return a person to jail or to make an arrest and if the defendant misses any court dates all monies posted for the cash-bond will be forfeited and lost. However, in the case of a bail bond made with a bail bond agent, should the defendant miss his scheduled court appearances, the bail agent has full arrest powers in almost every state, and can apprehend the absconder and return them to custody. The bail bond will be at minimum risk.