Most people who are arrested have the option of posting bail and being released from jail. This means paying a certain amount of money that will be held until the defendant’s court date. As long as they show up in court on that date, the money that they paid towards their bail will be given back to them.
Since not everyone is able to post their own bail when they are arrested – the amount is often thousands of dollars – they may require the services of a bail bondsman. A bail bondsman will be able to post bail on behalf of the defendant for a reasonable fee, usually a percentage of the bail. The defendant or someone in the defendant’s family will also need to put up some of their property as collateral for the bond.
If the defendant appears for their court date, the bail is returned to the bondsman, who also gets to keep the fee that was initially paid to them as their payment. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the bondsman can take possession of the collateral that was put up for the bond. The bondsman may also be authorized to apprehend the defendant and force them to appear in court.
A bail bondsman can be a life-saver if you find yourself being arrested and you’re short on funds. You do need to make sure that you can pay the fee that is expected of you, and the consequences of failing to appear in court are arguably worse, but it’s better than staying in jail for weeks or months at a time or paying several thousands of dollars. You can find an Aurora bondsman near you when you need one. All you need to do is look around in your neighborhood or search Google for local results, and you should be able to find what you need.