Santa Cruz County Bail Bonds

In the event that a person is arrested in the county of Santa Cruz, the person may be able to get out of jail on a bail bond while he or she awaits trial for the crime(s) that he or she has been accused of committing. Bail is a monetary assurance to the courts that the defendant will fulfill a legal obligation.

When a person is given the opportunity to pay bail, the person is being told that they are trusted by the courts, but that the courts want to hang onto assets in order to ensure that the defendant will fulfill a legal obligation. The bail amount for each crime is the same across all counties in California, though the bail amount is different for each crime. A panel of judges determines what the bail amount will be for each legal code violation.

In most cases, defendants do not have money available to provide the full amount of bail to the courts. Thus, they enlist the services of a bail bonding agency to help them get out of jail. In exchange for a down payment, the bail bonding agency will provide the funds for the full amount of bail.

The down payment that most bail bonding agencies charge is about ten percent of the total cost of the bail. This charge is non-refundable. The bail bonding agencies also generally collect assets that they can use as collateral. If a defendant fails to fulfill a legal obligation, the bail bonding agency will not receive a refund of the bail bond amount from the courts, so the bail bonding agency will collect the lost funds through the assets that the defendant had turned over.

If a defendant fails to fulfill a legal obligation, the bail bonding agency also has the authorization to go after the defendant to rearrest him. A bounty hunter will be called in to track the defendant down. The U.S. is the only country that still allows legal bounty hunter. Also, the defendant will usually be charged by the bail bonding agency for the cost to use a bounty hunter, if one is needed.