Bail Questions
While I understand that your first instinct is to get your loved one out of jail as soon as possible, you should never post bail until you speak with an attorney. An attorney may be able to get the bail eliminated in its entirety or reduced so that the non-refundable premium you pay to the bail bondsman may be substantially less. Also, the typical bail bondsman fee is ten percent of the bail amount.
However, most bail bondsman will give you a discount if you hired a private attorney. This discount can save you two or three percent. Also, in some case, it may be unwise to post bail. For example, if there is no dispute that the crime was committed and it is a serious crime which will definitely involve doing some custody, then posting bail can be an expensive mistake. Assume the bail is $100,000.00 and you pay the non refundable bail bondsman fee of $7,000.00 to $10,000.00.00 and get your loved one out.
Then, three months later at the conclusion of the criminal case, when your attorney was able to negotiate a very favorable outcome such that your loved one must return to jail and only serve 6
months in jail; in hind sight posting bail may not have been the smartest move. Because all you have accomplished is renting him from the jail for 7-10K. Whereas, if you did not post the bail every day that he spent in jail counts towards the six months that he is being sentenced to. Therefore, in all cases it is always better to take the additional time to have a qualified experienced attorney review the case prior to posting bail.
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