Finances and Money Management Made Simple

Jail is a place you don't want anyone in your family ending up, but it can happen. When it does, posting bail may be necessary. In this case, you'll probably need to secure a bail bond. This process will be easy when you take these steps. 

Find Out Bail Amount

Sometimes bail bonds aren't always needed when the bail amount is actually payable out of pocket. To find out if this is true or not for your family member, you need to do some investigating. There are several ways you can find out a person's bail amount.

Most of the time, you should be able to call the county courthouse and find out this bail amount. Or, you can walk into the facility where your family member is being held and use the kiosk up in the front. After entering in that family member's personal information, their bail amount will be displayed and you can then decide if a bail bond is necessary or not.

Hire a Bail Bondsman

If you've never posted bail before, getting a bail bond may seem like an extremely nerve-wracking process. How do you know what type of bond to get, after all? To help with this decision, you can hire a bail bondsman. They know this process inside and out thanks to the many years of experience they have.

A bail bondsman will let you know what options you have in terms of bail bonds, whether you want to pay a small percentage of the bail amount or put up some sort of valuable possession as collateral. The bondsman also will expedite this process to get your family out of jail as quickly as possible.

Obey Your Bond's Terms

Once you do get a bail bond, it's important that you follow its terms down to the letter. If you don't and you breach the agreement between you and the bondsman, you will have to pay the family member's full bail amount. If bail is thousands of dollars, this puts a lot of financial strain on you and your family.

As soon as you get this bail bond, make sure you know exactly what's required on your part. This is particularly true as far as knowing when your family member must show up to court for their arraigning. You must also make sure they avoid further legal trouble. 

Bail bonds are extremely helpful resources for getting family members out of jail. As long as you know what procedures to follow when getting one, you can avoid all sorts of issues. 

Contact a company like Alda Pauline's Bail Bonds for more information.