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Getting arrested is never something a person wishes for, yet there are times in life when this happens. If you ever find yourself in this position and really do not want to sit in jail until your trial, you will need to find a way to get bailed out of jail. The court is responsible for setting the amount of bail money you need, and it is hard to convince the court to reduce or eliminate the amount they set, which means you will need to come up with the amount of money the court asks for.

Bail Bond

A bail bond is the amount of money the court asks you for in order to get out of jail prior to your trial. This amount might be as low as $500, but it could be a lot more than this. In many cases, courts set the bail bond amount at $10,000 or more, and most people do not have this much cash available to use for this purpose. If you believe you were wrongfully arrested or that you pose absolutely no threat to society if released, you could petition the court to have the amount reduced or eliminated; however, this is not an easy process to succeed at. If the amount set is an amount you can easily come up with, then you could go ahead and pay it and walk free from jail. If it is not, you could always go through a bail bond company.

Bail Bond Premium

To go through a bail bond company, you are basically taking out a loan, and you will be required to pay 10% of the loan amount. If the bail is $20,000, you would have to pay $2,000 to get the bail loan, for example. The $2,000 you pay is called a bail bond premium. This amount is the amount of money you will pay for the bail bond company to pay the rest of the bail bond, and you will not receive this money back. You will, however, not have to repay the amount the bail bond company paid as long as you follow through with everything the court requires of you.

Bond Indemnitor

If you are the person who signs the bail bond agreement and pays the bail bond premium, you instantly become the bond indemnitor, which means you are fully responsible for the bond. If you get out of jail, for example, and fail to show up to your scheduled court hearing, the court can revoke the bond, which means you will not get the money back. If this happens, you will be 100% responsible to pay the bail bond company the full amount of money they put up for you to get out of jail. This occurs because you are the bond indemnitor and you are agreeing to repay the full amount if necessary.

The good news is that you do not have to repay the money you borrowed from the bail bond company if you go to court and follow the court's instructions. The court will release the bond money you paid, and it will go directly to the bail bond company. If you do not want a bail bond company after you, this is the route you should take. It is important to know that you will always get this money back from the court, even if the court finds you guilty in the crime they arrested you for.

If you ever find yourself locked behind bars, it is important to understand how this process works. You can always call a 24/7 bail bonds company if you are in this position.