I don’t get it. Why set bail at 10 million dollars when I only have to pay 1 million to get out. Shouldn’t bail just be 1 million then? Am I mising something along the way?
Because you used a bondsman.
If you can afford the 1 Million dollars, you will lose NONE of it if you show up to court. You get it all back.
If you can only afford the 10 percent, you pay that amount to a bondsman and you lose ALL of it even if you show up to court! The bondsman keeps it as a service fee. If you dont show up to court, then you’ll also lose whatever collateral you signed over to the bondsman as a gauruntee that he wont have to chase your ass. If you never show up to court, he is responsible for paying that full 1 Million dollars. (Well his insurance is anyway.) That’s why they will come and get you if you pull a noshow.
Bail is 1 million. Either you pay the 1 million to the court, or you get a bondsman who ensures your appearance for a fee. That fee is 10%.
Gosh Surbey, who are you and what did you do, to get $10mil bail??? Will you be on the evening news?
Sounds like you’ve experienced this more than once. Repent before it’s too late! Or perhaps you worked for Enron.
I think your numbers are off - do you mean 10 million where you say 1?
Well, remember that forest fire in California…
I just never understood. Now I do. Thanks!
It’s actually a type of insurance isn’t it? The bondsman has to make good to the court if you do fail to appear, so the fees are accumulated into a fund from which the bondsman. Of course this doesn’t prevent the bond company from attempting to track down the client and recovering some of their loss.
I’ve heard that defendants at the million-dollar bail level are usually urged to invest what money they can raise on good counsel rather than on being able to sleep in their own beds during the trial.
grrrr. god I hate math.
Let’s try that again.
You post your own bail:
You pay the court 10 million but you get all of that money back when you show up to court. If you dont show up to court, the clerk of the court keeps your money and a judge issues a warrant for your arrest.
You have a bondsman post your bail:
You pay him a fee equal to 10% of your bail. You lose this amount no matter what. You will also be required to sign over some collateral equal to or greater than the 9 million dollar risk he’s taking on your behalf. So if you dont show up for court, a warrant will be issued for your arrest and the bondsman will start civil proceedings to take your yatch or ranch house or whatever it is you signed as collateral. The bondsman then sells that to pay off his debt to the court. Someone owes the court 10 million dollars since you didn’t appear.
I believe they have insurance companies to back them up, but that’s a huge hit that would probably put him out of business, he’d lose his insurance and it would be difficult for him to get some elsewhere. So he’s gonna go get your ass so he doesn’t have to pay!
No it is a bond. Not quite the same thing. Insurance creates a reserve to pay claims, bonds do not.
Insurance and bonding are different, yes. But often, insurers have a bond division for such things as fidelity bonds, performance bonds, and surety bonds as used in, say, construction. (But insurers do not, as far as I can tell, deal in bail bonds.) Since insurers can and do handle bonds, the confusion about insurance and bonding in the general public’s mind is understandable.
I don’t believe this warrants it’s own thread, but near my local courthouse there are bondsmen everywhere and they are all dirty little shacks. How profitable are these places? I would assume people do jump, but is it outweighed by those who don’t?
I’ve noticed the same thing. They don’t tend to be all that nice looking, but then why would they be?
Has anyone ever worked for one in a criminal setting. I’ve dealt with bonds in a civil setting such as the setting of a fiduciary bond. I think that is a bit different though.
WAG: It’s a given that they’re full of money, because handling money is what they do. It’s a further given that criminals know they’re full of money, because criminals are their clientele. Perhaps, then, it is in their best interest to look as shabby and run-down as possible, so as not to attract attention to the fact that they’re full of money and would therefore be attractive targets for some desperate crackhead to try to knock over. I mean, not that the desperate crackhead would get anywhere; these places are pretty secure, and they’re staffed by enormous beefy men who will cheerfully drop a tire iron on the crackhead’s skull. But why invite trouble?
http://news.pajamasmedia.com/politics/2006/10/01/11135516_Bail_agents_numb.shtml
But the business is getting competitive: http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=oid%3A10868 (describing profits as “razor-thin” at best)
And skipped bail is apparently a big problem:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-13-bail-bonds_x.htm
Actually, they underwrite bonds. I’d be surprised if they had a lot of cash around. A stolen bail bond would be pretty worthless. Here is an example of a bail bond: http://doi.state.nv.us/Form-PL-330.pdf
Of course, they might have some cash and checks on hand from premium payments, if that’s what you mean.
Here is a FAQ from a bailbondsman: Frequently Asked Questions on Bail Bonds in San Diego
And another: Bail Bond Information What to do if Your Arrested Bondsman FAQ
And a third (each one has slightly different coverage): http://www.ebail.com/faq.htm
Yes, that was my intent. I don’t figure they’re carrying sacks of money to the courthouse, but the homeys coming to bail out Joe Crackpipe may well have a pile of twenties in hand. That money gets locked up until somebody can take it to the bank.