You’ve contracted with a bail bondsman to get yourself or a friend out of jail. Now what? You are legally obligated to follow the conditional release order provided by the jail, as well as show up on time and prepared for any scheduled court appearances. Not only have you made a contractual agreement with the court system upon your release, but also with the bail bondsman when they provided the cash to secure your release. But what happens if you don’t pay the bail bond?
Signed Bail Agreements
When you or your friend contacted the bail bondsman, you signed a contract promising that you’d upkeep your end of the release deal. There is a lot of money on the line otherwise. If you fail to comply with those signed agreements, you’re on the line for that full bail cost, not just the premium you paid the bail bondsman. 
In the agreement signed with the bail bondsman, there is typically a clause that allows them to turn you over to authorities if you fail to uphold your agreed responsibilities.
Under Arrest, Again
When you break the agreements set forth by the courts or by the agreement with the bail bondsman, you forfeit your release. A bail bondsman can detain you on their own, or hire a bounty hunter to pursue you across state lines. The courts may also issue a new bench warrant to allow officers to bring you in.
Skipping bail will never work in your favor.
Bond Contract Obligations
If a friend or family member contacted a bail bondsman on your behalf, they’re also bound by contract to fulfill the obligations of the contract. They are now responsible financially for you showing up to court, and abiding by laws and conditions set forth. They may even be held responsible for your supervision while you await court.
If you don’t show, they’re now obligated to pay the bail bondsman the entirety of your bail. Often several thousand dollars. They can garnish wages and tax returns, or seize property to secure their payment.
Civil Court and Payment Delinquency
If your bail is revoked, through re-arrest or failure to appear, the bail bonds agency is obligated to pay the entire cost of bail. This can be several thousands of dollars. They are then legally able to take you or your family members to civil court in order to collect payment.
What happens when you don’t pay the bail bond? A bail bond agency can set up payment arrangements for the repayment of the bail costs and can send your bill to collections or sue you over delinquent payments if they feel it necessary. This typically only happens if you fall behind by several payments, and haven’t made attempts at contacting them to communicate the changes.
Bail bonds agencies are in place to help, they don’t like chasing down payments any more than you like making them, but payments are required. You’ve made a financial agreement with them, and it is your legal responsibility to fulfill that agreement.
Blackman Bail Bonds
Our bail bond services are here to help you navigate the process of posting bail, and successfully obliging all of your contractual and court-ordered responsibilities. We want to help secure your conditional release awaiting trial. We are here first and foremost to help you and your family.
We are also in business and we will pursue our clients to hold them to their contracts. We will follow through with collection actions as allowed by law when they fail to appear or fail to meet their financial agreements with our agents.
Give us a call today to discuss your bail bond options. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
