CBB Bail bonds have processed several large bail bonds. A lot of agencies are either inexperienced or lack the ability to process large bonds. The biggest task to overcome is qualifying for the bond amount. Before we tackle those questions, we need to understand first, “what is a bail bond and how does it work?” A bail bond is essentially an insurance contract made with the county courts or jails in which it guarantees one of two things, one the defendants return to all court appearances until a disposition is reached or the bond for the full-face value in which a defendant was bonded out under. Here is a quick example for reference, let us say John was arrested for domestic violence. The bail assigned to john was for $20,000. John’s brother, Tony calls us and signs for John’s bail bond. The bail agent in return posts John’s bond and he is now released with a pending court date. John successfully attends all his court appearances, and his case reaches a disposition. The bond at this point would be exonerated meaning that there is no liability on the $20,000 that tony signed for. Now, in another scenario, Tony bonds out John, and for some reason, John decides to not appear or flees his obligation with the court. In this scenario, the bond would go into forfeiture. The judge would issue a warrant for John’s arrest and would notify the bail agency and surety company of the forfeiture. John’s brother Tony is now potentially liable for the $20,000 that was posted on behalf of John. The court will demand payment on the bond 180 days from the date of the forfeiture. If John fails to surrender or avoids arrests during this period, the surety company pays the bond, which in turn is charged to the bail company and in turn, the signer, Tony, is now liable for the $20,000. The contracts Tony signed for John are known as indemnitors which stipulates that if for any reason, the defendant fails to fulfill his or her obligation, and the bail company or its surety incurs any losses, Tony would be held responsible for John’s bond.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what bail is and its obligations, lets discuss what is a large bond. Large bonds can be set by a judge or assigned a preset amount by the arresting agency following a bail schedule. The bond amount is influenced by several factors such as flight risk, past criminal conduct, defendant’s history, public risks, the seriousness of the alleged offense or offenses, and or his or her history for failure to appears.
There are several tools that can be utilized such as requesting for a bail hearing or bail review or attach terms to a defendant’s release by requesting house arrest or enrolling to a program for rehabilitation. At CBB Bail bonds, we have worked with countless attorneys and their clients to secure the defendant’s release.
In scenarios where the bail hearing is denied or is reduced but is still at a large amount, CBB bail bonds has a few solutions to this problem. The first obstacle to overcome is gathering the individuals who will sign for the bond. For this part of the process, we are evaluating the financial risk/strengths of the indemnitors. Some of the things we need to put together are,
Once we have gathered this information, we will process the applications and submit them to the surety for approval.
There have been situations where the surety may not approve the large bond request but there are a few things we can do to get it approved. One thing we can do is split liability. Splitting liability works by cutting the liability in with other bail bond companies who transact under the same surety. For example, let us say Maria is in custody and the judge imposed a $500,000 bail on her. If Maria’s family does not meet the full requirements, CBB Bail Bonds can contract with another affiliated bail agency who under writes for the same surety. CBB Bail Bonds can resubmit the large bond approval requests and limit the amount of liability on one bail agency. This does not result in higher fees, the premiums on the bond remain the same to the clients even if this method is applied. These are just one of many tactics we can utilize to help our clients secure release.
To understand the process, we need to first know what bail is and how it works. There are 3 types of bail that anyone can post, property bond, cash bond and surety bond. The first two options, property, or cash bond stipulate that you or someone in the defendants’ behalf puts up property or cash for the full-face value of the bond. The benefit to posting bail in this manner is that you do not pay the bail bond fees or premiums, but the disadvantage is that you tie up financial resources for the duration of the bond. Once the bond is exonerated, whoever puts up the cash or the property gets it back unless the court orders a forfeiture.
When individuals lack the ability to put up the bond in full, this is where we can step in and fill that gap. The bail bond agency essentially acts as an underwriter for the surety company and assumes the “risks” in exchange, the signers and or defendants only pay a percentage of the bail ordered to the surety company.
Typically, the same terms and conditions apply to a surety bond and as they do for property or cash bond. Once the defendant appears to all court appearances and reaches a disposition, the bond is exonerated, there is no more liability on the bond.
In the state of California, each county has a bail schedule (58 counties in total). These schedules outline the amount of bail ordered for specific offenses. Not all counties have the same bail amounts. Someone in Orange County who gets arrested for domestic violence could be a $30,000 and another person in Los Angeles County who gets arrested for a similar offense could be $50,000. There are other factors that are considered when bail is set but when arrested, the agency that conducted the arrest typically goes off bail schedules. If the defendant does not bail out and waits to see the judge, typically within 72 hours, the judge has the discretion to release the defendant on his or her own recognizance, reduce the bail amount and in some circumstances, raise the bail amount if there have been changes to a defendant’s case such as adding more charges, counts and or amendments made to the complaint. Speak to an experienced lawyer for legal advice.
If someone is arrested, and the ordered bail is high, what can we do? In some situations, the ordered bail can be set at an amount that makes it almost impossible to afford bail or in rare cases, there is no bail set. What can we do? At the defendant’s arraignment, we can request the court to address the issue with bond or set a bail review hearing. It's important to note that a bail hearing is not a guarantee that bail will get reduced or be released on their own recognizance. And it is possible that after a bail hearing, the ordered bond amount can go up. The purpose of the bail review is to present to the court that the defendant posses no flight risks or is not a danger to him or herself and the public.
During the hearing, we can set conditions such as the surrender of a passport to the court or bail bond company, GPS ankle monitor through pre-trial services or contract with an independent provider at the expense of the defendant, and or seek to enroll into court-approved programs. This can potentially mitigate the amount of ordered bail and make it more reasonable for people to afford and yet provide enough incentive to return the defendant to court. The goal here is to convince the courts that the defendant is not a flight risk, poses no danger to the public and him or herself, and is rooted in the communities for example has a job, owns a business, owns a home, has children, is married, has family that lives locally, and or is willing to get help as a provision of pre-trial release. Other points to bring up could be existing health issues, the defendant has serious or delicate medical needs that require constant care or has an upcoming surgery. We can take bits and pieces or all of this if applicable and present it to the court. When the defendant is arrested, often the court is unaware of the situation, the courts or district attorneys understand the basics of what’s going on but usually know nothing of the defendant and the foundation around him or her.
In some cases, the bail reduction is granted but still can be difficult to come up with that amount in cash or have assets to adequately cover the full-face value of the requested bond. This is where we come in. We often help fill the gap between unobtainable and affordable.
We always advise our clients about the liabilities and responsibilities of signing for a bail bond. Before signing, you should have trust for the person you are inquiring about bailing out. It is not recommended to bail out an individual
There are a few things we need to gather before applying for a large bond. All signers need to bring a government-issued identification card such as a driver's license or state-issued ID card, recent paycheck stubs for proof of employment, if self-employed, bring recent bank statements or recent tax return filing. Another thing to consider is gathering more indemnitors
Processing a large bond can be a difficult process for most inexperienced bail agents. At CBB Bail Bonds, we have helped hundreds of clients secure release because of our expertise in the field. We have taken on large bonds when other bail bond companies have said no. It's important to know and understand what you will need to bring and how the most reputable bail bond companies will process a large bond. The first thing we need to do is get to know the signers and the defendant. We need to know all aspects such as where the defendant was born, citizenship status in the United States, where the family is located and understand some basics about the case and what happened. We do this because we want to establish trust and a relationship with our clients. The next thing we need to do is go over the liability of the bond and make sure everyone fully understands the process and their involvement. Finally, we need to assess the financial strength of the signers such as but not limited to credit strength, income amounts per signer and/or assets. This helps mitigate the “risks” taken on by the bail bond company. Knowing this important detail is the first step we need to take. In some situations, the bail bond agency can help process a large bond by imposing some conditions or restrictions such as the surrender of the defendant’s passport to the court or bail agent, GPS ankle monitor bracelets and or routine check-ins with the bail bond company. These extra conditions can come from the bail bond company and or court. This can help fill any gaps in the defendant’s bail bond application. In addition, before the bond can be executed, there will be times when the bail agent may need to schedule a visit with the client to gather any missing details that the signers may not have on hand. Having multiple indemnitor helps spread the liability and thus makes it easier to get approved. As an example, let us say John’s bail has been set to $250,000. If we have five signers on John’s bond, it will help minimize the risk as opposed to having only one or two signers for John. The indemnitor's applications come together as one and will spread the liability between five signers.
As mentioned before, there are a few things to consider why someone’s bail may be set high. The defendant could have multiple cases that require bail for each case. In some cases, during the arraignment or the bail review, the judge could order bail to run concurrently. Here is an example, Tobi was arrested for a misdemeanor offense, in most cases, Tobi would be expected to be released within a few hours of his booking, but during the booking process, the jailer realizes that Tobi has other outstanding warrants, let us say there are 3 more cases in addition to what Tobi was arrested for and the judge ordered a $50,000 bail on each case. That could potentially bring up Tobi’s bail from $0 to $150,000 plus potentially the new case he was arrested for. In a case like this, it is important to speak to an experienced criminal defense attorney to go over the circumstances or elements of each individual case. In court, it could be argued that the defendant did comply with his or her conditions, clerical errors or simply aim to mitigate the amount of bail ordered to help reduce the bail amount. See “What are some options to large bail bonds” sections of this page for a complete breakdown.
Past criminal conduct, failure to appears, warrants and convictions all play a serious role when determining a defendant’s bail amount and or eligibility. We know and understand that people make mistakes, and often want change or have maintained a good record as they get older, but as mentioned before, the courts do not realize the defendant’s character or traits, they just see what is on a criminal background check and why he or she is there. We live in times which things are not so black and white anymore, At CBB Bail Bonds, we have seen a more humanitarian approach towards detainees which ultimately means helping and liberating more people from the confines of a jail cell. Regardless of the facts, there are always ways to mitigate the defendant’s case, being out on bail allows the ability to prepare his or her defense and resume life as normal. In the event that the defendant is sentenced to serve jail time, bail allows the defendant to take care of personal affairs before having to go in. Securing a bail bond can restore balance to the defendant’s life or secure a disposition on his or her case.
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