A bail bondsman is someone who acts as a surety and pledges the required property or money as bail to the courts and promises that the accused person, whom the bail bondsman represents, will appear in court on a future date.

Bail, Surety and Bail Bondsman 

Bail is property or money given to a court to release an accused suspect from custody. The assumption is that the suspect will be tempted to attend his or her court date and get his/her bail money back. The court normally holds onto bail money until the proceedings and trial come to completion.

The reasoning behind posting bail is that many times a trial could come many months post-arrest, and it would be unfair to potentially keep an innocent person in jail awaiting trial for that long. If the accused person can’t afford to pay for his or her own bail, then a surety bond might come into play.

The underlying assumption is that if the accused doesn’t come to the trail, s/he will lose the entire bond amount. The bond, therefore, acts as an enticement to get the accused to attend the trail. What happens, though, when an accused party can’t afford to pay her bail?

Surety Bond and Bail Bondsman 

A surety bond, or bail bond, usually entails a friend or family member of the accused suspect getting into contact with a bail bondsman. A bail bondsman is also known as a bail agent. A surety bond, in general, means that one party (e.g., bail agent) assumes responsibility for another party (e.g., accused suspect) should the debtor or accused default or fail to appear in court.

A bond agent is financially supported by a unique kind of insurance company that promises to front the entire value of the accused suspect’s bond if s/he doesn’t appear in court on his court date. The particular kind of insurance company that works with bond agents is called a surety company.

How do bail bond agencies work? 

The bail agent usually wants some further guarantee or financial compensation should the accused suspect decide to skip out on court. Normally, therefore, bond agents require a low-percentage premium and some type of collateral from the accused. A bail agent would normally hold the deed to a home or title to a car as collateral.

By having friends or family members contact the bail agent, the hope is that two wedges force the client to appear in court. The first is the soft pressure that the friends and family exert on the accused suspect to make the court date.

The other kind of pressure is more tangible, though, in that a family member or friend of the accused is probably paying the bond agent the premium and putting down some collateral, which would be confiscated to meet the bail amount should the accused suspect not attend his or her court date.

Sometimes property can even be used as bond if the accused or his family and friends don’t have enough to meet the bond amount. Foreclosure on a family member’s house is not uncommon.

Bail versus Bond

The difference between bail and bond is that bail is the amount paid by the accused suspect; the amount is held by the court as an enticement for the accused to make the court date.

Bond, on the other hand, is bail money paid on behalf of the accused by a bail bond company. The bail bondsman pays the court a certain percentage of the bail money; the court normally accepts because the accused has collateral involved.