When a person is arrested, depending on the seriousness of the charge, the court may give the individual the opportunity to post bail for his or her temporary freedom. When the accused has arranged jail bonds in Mason City Iowa they are free to leave jail until the date of their trial. The idea behind posting bail is to ensure that the accused will appear in court in the future. Depending on the amount of bail set by the court the accused may be in a position to pay the amount from his or her resources or perhaps call upon friends and family for help. If this fails or the amount is more than can be raised bail bonds in mason City Iowa can be useful, the accused can pay some of the bail, often 10 percent and the bonding agency can pay the balance. When the accused appears in court as scheduled the bail amount is refunded to the agency. In this way the agency gets its money back as well as the 10 percent put up by the accused which is the agencies profit.
Certain crimes such as DUI; the amount of bail has been predetermined by the courts, in other cases a bail hearing is held, often at the same time as the arraignment. At this time the judge will hear the charges against the accused and ask for a guilty or not guilty plea. The bail money that is demanded by the court is set commensurate with the crime and is high enough to act as a financial incentive to be in court in the future. In many cases the amount of bail demanded by the court far outstrips the accused person’s ability to pay.
If the accused cannot raise the bail, the logical step is to call a bondsman that puts up bail bonds in Mason City Iowa. The accused puts up a certain percentage of the bail, the bondsman puts up the rest. The surety bond is used as a guarantee that the accused will show up for trial and if not the full amount of bail is forfeited.
The bail bondsman assesses a fee to arrange the bail; the fee is non-refundable even if the accused returns to court. The agency will normally demand collateral equal to the amount they put up as the agency is assuming a risk that the accused may not show up in court. As the bond will be forfeited in favor of the court, the bonding agency can recover its money from the collateral.
Bail bonds in Mason City Iowa are a way to gain temporary freedom from the time of the arraignment to the date of the trial. Bail bonds in Mason City Iowa are available from Liberty Bail Bonds.
