San Bernardino County Bail Bonds

In San Bernarinoo, when a person is arrested and taken to jail, the person may be able to get out of jail on bond while he or she awaits a trial for his or her accused crimes. Not all defendants will be released on bail. Some defendants will not be eligible for bail at all, especially if the crime that they have been accused of committing is especially dangerous. Other defendants may be released on their own recognizance without having to pay anything.

When a person is released on jail, the courts are basically saying that they believe that the individual will return to court in order to fulfill the full legal obligation. However, the defendant will need to supply the courts with an assurance of that commitment to return by giving the courts some money to hold onto. The money that the courts hold onto is called a bail bond and the amount of this bail bond is determined by the crime that the defendant has been accused of committing. The bail amount is the same for all counties across California.

When the defendant fulfills the legal obligation, this bail bond will be returned to the payee. Often, that payee is a bail bonding agency. When a defendant does not have the funds that are necessary to pay the full cost of the bail, the defendant has the option to call upon a bail bonding agency for assistance paying the bail bond. The bail bonding agency will then supply the defendant with the full amount of bail that is needed in order to be released from jail.

For its services, the bail bonding agency will charge the defendant about ten percent of the total cost of the bail. This fee is non-refundable. In addition, the bail bonding agency will collect assets to hold onto as collateral. In the event that the defendant fails to appear in court, the bail bonding agency will not receive a refund of the bail bond that it supplied for the release of the defendant, so the bail bonding agency will collect on the collateral that the defendant had supplied.

Also, if a defendant fails to appear in court, the bail bonding agency will use a bounty hunter to track the defendant down, in many cases. The bounty hunter has the power to rearrest a defendant and return him or her to court or to jail until the defendant has fulfilled his or her full legal obligation.