Forms of bail | Click Here

The form of bail varies from jurisdiction, but the common forms of bail include:

1. Recognizance 2. Surety 3. Citation Release 4. Property bond
5. Orders of Protection 6. Cash 7. Combinations


Bail bond co-signer | Click Here

What should you know as a co-signer, or bail bond indemnitor? What happens if the defendant does not appear? At what point is the co-signer no longer liable for the bond?


The service of a bail bondsman | Click Here


A bail bondsman is any person or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court. Learn more in this section


Bail: Frequently Asked Questions | Click Here

Here's the place to get answers to some commonly asked questions about bail and bail bonds … Questions include: What are my options if I am arrested? How do I get a bond? How long is the bail process? What is collateral and What do bondsmen accept as collateral? Can I finance the bail bond fee? Do I get my money back after the case is over? What information should I have before I contact the bail agent?


What is Bail? What is a bail bond?
And, what's the history of bail bonds? | Click Here

Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court in order to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail ("skipping bail" or "jumping bail" is also illegal). Learn more in this section.

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Forms of bail

The form of bail varies from jurisdiction, but the common forms of bail include:

1. Recognizance - a promise made by the accused to the court that he/she will attend all required judicial proceedings and will not engage in further illegal activity or other prohibited conduct as set by the court. Typically a monetary amount is set by the court, but is not paid by the defendant unless it is forfeited by the court; this is denominated an unsecured appearance bond.

In British and American law, the term recognizance is usually employed to describe an obligation of record, entered into before some court or magistrate duly authorized, whereby the party bound acknowledges (recognizes) that he owes a personal debt to the government. This debt is generally subject to a condition that the obligation to pay shall be avoided if he shall do some particular act, as if he shall appear at the assizes, keep the peace, or the like.

Recognizance is most often encountered regarding bail in criminal cases. By filing a bail bond with the court, the defendants will usually be released from imprisonment pending a trial or appeal. If no bail has been set, the defendants are released "on their own recognizance." For more on recognizance, see abailstop (click here) and wikipedia (click here).


2. Surety - when a third party agrees to be responsible for the debt or obligation of the defendant. In many jurisdictions this service is provided commercially by a bail bondsman, where the agent will receive 10% of the bail amount up front and will keep that amount whether the defendant appears in court or not. The court in many jurisdictions, especially jurisdictions that prohibit bail bondsmen, may demand a certain amount of the total bail (typically 10%) be given to the court, which, unlike with bail bondsmen, is returned if the defendant does not violate the conditions of bail.

In most common law jurisdictions, a contract of suretyship is subject to the statute of frauds (or its equivalent local laws) and is only enforceable if memorialized by a writing signed by the surety. If the surety is required to pay or perform due to the principal's failure to do so, the law will usually give the surety a right of subrogation, allowing him to recover the cost to him of making payment or performance on the principal's behalf, even in the absence of an express agreement to that effect between the surety and the principal.

The act of becoming a surety is also called a guaranty. Traditionally a guaranty was distinguished from a surety in that the surety's liability was joint and primary with the principal, wherease the guaranty's liability was ancillary and derivative, but many jurisdictions have abolished this distinction.

In the United States, Under Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code, a person who signs a negotiable instrument as a surety is termed an accommodation party; such a party may be able to assert defenses to the enforcement of an instrument not available to the maker of the instrument. For more on surety, see abailstop (click here) and wikipedia (click here).

A surety bond (click here) is a contract between at least three parties: (i) the principal, (ii) the obligee, and (iii) the surety. Through this agreement, the surety agrees to make the obligee whole (usually by payment of money) if the principal defaults in its performance of its promise to the obligee. The contract is formed so as to induce the obligee to contract with the principal, i.e., to demonstrate the credibility of the principal.

Suretyship bonds originated hundreds of years ago as a mechanism through which trade over long distance could be encouraged. They are frequently used in the construction industry: in order to obtain a contract to build the project, the general contractor (and often the sub-contractors as well) must provide the owner a bond for its performance of the terms of the contract. Conversely, owners and contractors may also provide payment bonds to ensure that subcontractors and suppliers are paid for work done. Under the Miller Act, payment and performance bonds are required for general contractors on all U.S. federal government construction projects where the contract price exceeds $100,000.00.

Surety bonds are also used in other situations, for example, to secure the proper performance of fiduciary duties by persons in positions of private or public trust.

A key term in nearly every surety bond is the penal sum. This is a specified amount of money which is the maximum amount that the surety will be required to pay in the event of the principal's default. This allows the surety to assess the risk involved in giving the bond; the premium charged is determined accordingly.

If the principal defaults and the surety turns out to be insolvent, the purpose of the bond is rendered nugatory. Thus, the surety on a bond is usually an insurance company whose solvency is verified by private audit, governmental regulation, or both.

The principal will pay a premium (usually annually) in exchange for the bonding company's financial strength to extend surety credit. In the event of a claim, the surety will investigate it. If it turns out to be a valid claim, the surety will pay it and then turn to the principal for reimbursement of the amount paid on the claim and any legal fees incurred. For more on surety bonds, click here.


3. Citation Release - This procedure, known as the "Cite Out," involves the issuance of a citation by the arresting officer to the arrestee, informing the arrestee that he or she must appear at an appointed court date.

The Cite Out usually occurs immediately after an individual is arrested. As a consequence of the failure to follow complete booking procedures, the true identity and background of most individuals released on citation is never established. This results in the release of numerous arrestees who may have outstanding bench warrants pending or who may present a significant danger to society.

Accordingly, in these cases involving Cite Outs, the arrestee may never be placed in custody, and like the own recognizance release, such an arrestee's appearance in court depends exclusively upon the integrity of the alleged felon and his or her voluntarily returning to court.

In this case, an arrestee may be "released on conditions." Here, many varied non-monetary conditions and restrictions on liberty can be imposed by a court to ensure that a person released into the community will appear in court and not commit any more crimes. Common examples include: mandatory calls to the police, surrendering passports, home detention, electronic monitoring, drug testing, alcohol counseling, surrendering firearms.


4. Property bond - In rare cases an individual may obtain release from custody by means of posting a property bond with the court. Here the court records a lien on property, to secure the bail amount. If the arrestee subsequently fails to appear at the scheduled court date, the court may institute foreclosure proceedings against the property to obtain the forfeited bail amount.


5. Orders of Protection - one very common feature of any conditional release, whether on bail, bond or condition, is a court order requiring the defendant to refrain from criminal activity against the alleged crime victim, or stay away from and have no contact with the alleged crime victim. The former is a limited order, the latter a full order. Violation of the order can subject the defendant to automatic forfeiture of bail and further fine or imprisonment.


6. Cash - to be released on cash bail, an individual must post with the court the total amount of the bail, in cash, to secure his or her return to court on an appointed date, and thereafter until the case is concluded. Full cash bonds provide a powerful incentive for defendants to appear at trial. If the defendant shows up for his/her scheduled court appearances, the cash is returned to him/her. If s/he fails to appear, the cash bond is forfeited to the court.


7. Combinations - courts often allow defendants to post cash bail or bond, and then impose further conditions, as mentioned above, in order to protect the community or ensure attendance.
Bail may be forfeited, and the defendant remanded to jail, for failure to appear when required. For more on various forms of bail, click here.


Your rights to bail
Under current law, a defendant has the right to bail unless there is sufficient reason not to grant it. The main reasons for refusing bail according to the Bail Act 1976 are that there are substantial grounds for believing that the defendant (1) will flee; (2) will commit further offences while on bail; or (3) will interfere with witnesses. Conditions may be applied to the grant of bail, such as living at a particular address or, rarely, paying an amount into court or having someone act as surety. Release on bail is sometimes referred to as "police bail," where the release was by the police rather than by a court. The alternative to being granted bail is being remanded into custody (also called being "held on remand").


State bail laws
Bail laws vary somewhat from state to state, as is typical of U.S. jurisprudence. Generally, a person charged with a non-capital crime is presumptively entitled to be granted bail. Recently, some states have enacted statutes modeled on federal law which permit pretrial detention of persons charged with serious violent offenses, if it can be demonstrated that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community.


Be certain on bail bond co-signing
The act of co-signing involves a promise to pay another person's debt arising out of contract if that person fails to do so. Many realtors and landlords require a cosigner for college students, people with bad credit or people whose income is less than a certain, low multiple of the amount of rent. Other loans typically involving a cosigner are motor vehicle purchase money loans and mortgages. The statute of frauds existing in most states of the United States requires that any such agreement be in writing and signed by the co-signer in order to be enforceable in a court of law. A cosigner is also known as a surety. The legal act or instrument of cosigning is also called a guaranty. For more on co-signing, click here.

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