exactly what is a bail bond.?

Question

I was going thru the questions and I found a question asking if a bond could be revoked that was put up thru a bail bond so that he would not have to pay the full bond if his daughter did not show up. I always thought that went you used a bail bond company you only put up a percentage of the bail. The bail bond company kept this as their fee for putting up the rest and if the bail was forfeitted, they were the ones who had to pay the rest of the bail and then they were the ones that tried to find the person who skipped and bring them back so that they would get their money back from the court..

Answer 1

OK. Bail BOndsman work like this

you pay 10% plus a fee generally to get them out. They guarentee the bond to the court. The person who bails them out or the bondsman can revoke it ant anytime without reason.

The bondsman must pay the court if they do not show. He/she is 100 responsible for the money and through the contract so is the person who bailed them out. That means if he looses his money to the court, he will have right to collect in full from the person who bailed them out.

Generally, there is no return on the money. THe court usually allows them time to find them but once money is paid its gone.

Answer 2

Yes the bail bond company has to pay if they person does not show up if you use a bail bond company.

But the people who sign for the bond also sign to pay back the bonding company, often on larger bonds they have to put up thier home for the bond, So the bond company merely takes the property of the people who sign the bond

So what they did was the dad would have signed for the bond, so if the daughter don't show up, the bond company pays, then they go back to the dad to get the money paid back to them.

Answer 3

Also, typically, the bondsman asks for collateral, in the event that the person they bail out runs. So whatever you put up gets lost and taken by the bondsman if you dont show up for court

Answer 4

Most of the ones I've known have been ex-military and/or ex-police. Just a heads up though - it's not like the tv shows.

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.

Answer 6

you explained it just right