Author: admin

An arrest for a criminal offense can be a very stressful time. The stress escalates when the offender does not have the money to post bail and is facing detention until the court date.

A bail bondsman can help provide the financial means to post bail. But sometimes, there may be confusion surrounding this procedure, so here is the clarification needed to address questions that arise before, during and after posting bail and the subsequent bail bond financing process.

Does the Bail Bond Company Refund My Money After the Court Case is Over?

Many people believe that once the court case is over, they get all or a portion of their bond money back. Still, others believe that if they are found not guilty, they will get their bond money back.

Bail bonds themselves are used by the court as assurance that the offender or defendant, will return for their court appearance.

Do You Get Bail Money Back if Charges are Dropped?

According to Tennessee bail bond laws, bail bonds have nothing to do with court findings, whether found innocent or guilty.

How Long Does It Take to get Bail Money Back?

The upfront fees, called the bail premium are generally 10% of the bail amount, are paid to get the process started and these fees are non-refundable. A bail bondsman charges these upfront fees as payment for their services to assume the risk of the defendant returning for their court appearance.

In some cases, the bondsman may collect additional cash collateral in addition to the 10% fee.

This additional cash is used as sort of a contingency just in case additional expenses are incurred. If there are no additional expenses incurred, the cash collateral (not the upfront fee or bail premium) will be refunded to the defendant after their final court appearance.

There are also some cases in which a defendant can finance part of the bail premium (or bail bond) but is required to pay for the remaining balance.

Bail Bond Financing and Repayment

There can also be confusion surrounding bail bond financing and repayment of bond premium. Some people believe that if their case is over before paying off the balance of the bond premium, they are done with their payments to the bondsman.

People can get hung up on the fact that if their court case has ended, they don’t understand why it is necessary to pay any outstanding balance to their bondsman. It makes no difference if your case takes one day or multiple years.  The remainder of the bondsman’s 10% premium fee still needs to be paid in full.  Failure to pay the remaining balance can result in civil action agains the defendant and/or cosigners.

If the defendant or co-signer has to be taken to court for payment of owed bail bond fees and judgment is ruled in favor of the bondsman, collection may be enforced by garnishing the defendant’s or cosigner’s wages. More information can be found in the Tennessee code annotated regarding bail bonds.

As with any situation where it is necessary to borrow money, it is a legally binding contract that needs to be paid. Bond Agents are here to provide professional and knowledgeable bail services and for a reputable bail bond near me company in the greater Memphis area and throughout the state of Tennessee call United Bonding Company. United Bonding Company is also licensed to provide bail bonds to individuals in the Shelby County Juvenile Court.  

By clearing up misconceptions ahead of time with your bond agent surrounding bail bond premiums or upfront money, you will alleviate stress and make posting a bond for you or a loved one a quick and easy experience.

**DISCLAIMER**

Please be advised that www.bailbondmemphis.com and United Bonding Company is not an attorney or law firm and does not provide legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice, you are strongly encouraged to consider consulting with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction who can provide you with legal advice on your particular matter given that individual state, county or city laws may vary. www.bailbondmemphis.com provides INFORMATION ONLY and the information provided is for informational purposes only AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR SUBSTITUTED FOR LEGAL ADVICE. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is at your own risk.

Many people believe that arrest warrants eventually go away. They do, right? After all, most crimes have statutes of limitations, don’t they?

But there is no statute of limitations on arrest warrants https://thelawdictionary.org/article/statute-limitations-arrest-warrants/. Once the authorities issue one, it stays active until it is served. An attorney may be able to get the case dismissed later, but that hope does not help people who are caught in a Shelby County warrants sweep. The next such event is never more than a few months away and can happen anywhere, at any time, and in any place in Tennessee.

Warrant roundups are not the only problem. If you have an outstanding warrant, you are subject to arrest at any time. The police do not even have to pull over your vehicle or stop you on the sidewalk. A simple license plate check can land you in jail. So, if you think you may have a warrant, please keep reading.

How Do I Find Out If I Have a Warrant in Tennessee?

Many events trigger open arrest warrants. Some people fail to take care of traffic tickets on time. Even if they have valid excuses, the courts will still issue unpaid traffic ticket bench warrants (an arrest warrant which comes from a judge instead of the police). Other people violate obscure probation or parole conditions. These people may have active warrants in Tennessee and not even know it until they are pulled over for missing a stop sign or making an illegal turn.

Some bonding companies offer free warrant checks. If the warrant is local, the bonding company can have the warrant withdrawn and the case placed on the court’s docket. In many situations, the defendant does not need to report to jail. In other cases, a quick check-in/check-out may be required.

What Happens Next?

After the case goes back on the docket, some people plead guilty or no contest in exchange for reduced charges or a lesser sentence. This is called plea bargaining.  Sometimes, if the case is old, most of the evidence may have disappeared. For example, the officer who wrote the original speeding ticket or made the initial arrest may be long gone. The paper record may be admissible in its place.  Then again, the record may be difficult to locate.

Alternatively, the case could go to trial. As indicated, prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. The plea-or-trial decision is usually up to you and your lawyer.  As long as the case is pending, if you do not miss a court date or fail to comply with any other condition, there will be no bench warrant. Then, once the case is over, it is over and done! Again, that’s assuming you comply with all mandatory conditions.

Typically, outstanding warrants are fairly easy to clean up. If you put it off, things could get a lot worse. So, if you think you there is even a possibility that you have a warrant in Tennessee, why not call bail bond near me United Bonding Company first. They can help you from having one of those horrible warrant search surprises where you find out there is a warrant for your arrest and you end up in jail. United Bonding Company is available 24/7 for immediate bail assistance at (901) 577-1138 every day of the year.

**DISCLAIMER**

Please be advised that Bailbondmemphis.com and United Bonding Company is not an attorney nor law firm and does not provide legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice, you are strongly encouraged to consider consulting with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction who can provide you with legal advice on your particular matter given that individual state, county or city laws may vary. Bailbondmemphis.com provides INFORMATION ONLY and the information provided is for informational purposes only AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR SUBSTITUTED FOR LEGAL ADVICE. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is at your own risk.

If you have ever woken up in the Shelby County Jail or at 201 Poplar Avenue, I am pretty sure you have asked yourself, “when should I call a bondsman?”. If you are a parent or guardian of a child and have come to find out that your child has been taken into custody by the Shelby County Juvenile Court system, then it is a good time to call a bondsman.

In general, the rule of thumb is to call a bondsman as soon as possible if you think you might need additional monies to make your bail. Bail amounts can be set in the hundreds to thousands of dollars and it can be safe to say that most working folks just don’t have that kind of money laying around.

A bondsman is there to help relieve you of the financial strain that can be put upon friends and families when paying the full amount of a bond is out of their financial reach. The bondsman is there to help you make financing a bond affordable much like a loan officer is there to help you pay for a purchase or pay off a debt.  

The bondsman is also there for you and your family to help navigate the bail bond process to make posting your bond as quick and easy as possible so that you can get out of jail asap and back to your normal life.

If you are calling a bondsman on behalf of a person who is in jail and you were not able to get very much information from them, there is no need to worry. Maybe your conversation was cut short due to a bad cellular connection or maybe you are getting your information second hand because you were not able to talk to them directly.

No matter the situation, do not stress! Your bondsman can do an online jail lookup or inmate lookup to find out where they are being held and other pertinent details. Once the bondsman confirms the location your loved one is being held, you can begin the bail bonds application process.

Remember, if you can’t call a bondsman yourself, asking your friend or family member to do so for you is the next best thing. In fact, it’s never a bad idea to carry the business card of a fully licensed bail bonds company such as United Bonding Company. You never know when their phone number is the next one you or someone you know, will want to be calling.

**DISCLAIMER**

Please be advised that www.bailbondmemphis.com and United Bonding Company, LLC is not an attorney nor law firm and does not provide legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice, you are strongly encouraged to consider consulting with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction who can provide you with legal advice on your particular matter given that individual state, county or city laws may vary. www.bailbondmemphis.com provides INFORMATION ONLY and the information provided is for informational purposes only AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR SUBSTITUTED FOR LEGAL ADVICE. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is at your own risk.

Not to be confused with the word “bond”, bail is basically the total amount of money that a person must deposit with the court in order to remain free from jail until his or her case is over.  A bail bond premium is the amount of money paid to a bondsman for the defendants release from jail after arrest in lieu of depositing the entire amount of the bail bond with the court.  The bond is an agreement between the courts and the bail bond company that obligates the bail bond company to ensure the defendant’s appearance in court.

While the process of bail may sound scary, hopefully by the end of this article, you and your loved ones will have a better understanding of what bail is and how it works so that the both of you can pick the right bonding company in memphis tn and save a lot of headaches (and heartaches) in the long run.

While some 24 hour bonding companies in memphis might skim through the whole explanation of the bail process, at United Bonding Company, we make it our priority to be one of the memphis bonding companies to ensure that you understand the whole process beforehand. We also are the premier memphis bonding company that is licensed to write bonds for the Shelby County Juvenile Court.  

When you or a loved one is arrested in Memphis, Tennessee or in any town in the surrounding Shelby County, Tipton County or Fayette County area, the first thing that you might ask yourself is, “What is bail and how does it work?”

Let’s start from the beginning.

When a person gets arrested (being seized or taken into custody after committing a crime) and booked (having made an official record of the name of the person including other details pertinent to the arrest) for committing a crime (an activity that is considered illegal and/or wrong according to the laws of the state and/or federal government) he or she must wait either in jail or at a detention center (the place where an arresting officer takes you to for breaking the law) until his or her court date (the date, place, and time that the judge has set for you to appear before the court).

Prior to his or her court date, the defendant (the person who is committed of performing a crime) is taken to a bail hearing (a court process in which a judge will determine whether or not to allow a defendant to post bail and be released from jail for the duration of his or her trial) where the judge (the person who determines what will happen to the defendant) reads aloud the charges (the accusations made that brought the defendant to jail in the first place) and sets the bail amount (the amount of money that the person would need in order to get out of jail while his or her case is active).

If the defendant cannot afford to post the bail, then he or she can either remain in jail until his or her final court date or have a close friend or relative pay the bail bond premium and become a co-signer or indemnitor (a person who agrees to take responsibility for payment if the defendant fails to follow the bail bond agreement).  

The defendant and/or co-signer would then hire a professional bondsman (any person, firm, partnership or corporation, engaged for profit in the business of furnishing bail, making bonds or entering into undertakings, as surety, in criminal proceedings, or for the appearance of persons charged with any criminal offense or violation of law or ordinance punishable by fine, imprisonment or death, before any of the courts of this state, including municipal courts or securing the payment of fines, judgments or damages imposed and of costs assessed by those courts upon preliminary or final disposition thereof).  

After hiring a Bail Agent, the defendant’s co-signer will give the agent the full name of the person in jail, as well as their booking number (a number used to identify the defendant while he or she is in jail)  and the arrest location (where the defendant was taken to when they were arrested or detained).  

Upon receiving this information, the Bail Agent will then meet with the relative/friend to discuss the paperwork and agreement to post the bond (a method that releases the defendant from jail and ensures that the defendant shows up to court on his or her court date).

During this time, the bail agent would then ask a person who has come to the bail bond company on behalf of the defendant to either pay the bond premium (a fraction of the total bail amount (usually ten to fifteen percent) and possibly have the person sign over collateral (a type of security that consists of real estate or some other asset of value).

Here at United Bonding Company, the bond premium is typically 10% of the bond, plus a $25 surcharge and $12 bail tax that are added onto this fee as adhered to according to Tennessee Code Annotated 40-11-316 (a law that states the maximum bail bond premium in the State of Tennessee). So if the overall cost of the premium sounds too high for your cosigner’s budget, don’t worry! In most cases we will be able to work with your cosigner to take a smaller down payment. After that, we will finance the rest of the bail bond premium in installment payments.

United Bonding Company accepts the following forms of payment:

• Cash
• Credit or Debit Card
• Cashier’s Check
• Money Order
• Bank to bank wire transfer

Once the bond has been posted by the bail agent and everything related to it has been paid, the defendant is released (freed from being held) until his or her court date. This process is known as bailing out (making sure that the defendant gets out of jail so he or she can continue on with his or her life prior to the court date).

During this time, the defendant must attend all court proceedings (processes of the law that include showing up to court on time) in compliance (in agreement) with the law.  Otherwise, the defendant’s loved ones could risk being sued and/or losing any collateral that was signed over with the bond.

Failure to Appear or F.T.A. for your court date could mean that the bail agent will have no choice but to pay the full bail amount to the court or hire a recovery agent (otherwise referred to as a bounty hunter) to hunt down the defendant and arrest them.

There is no need to be stuck in jail. Give United Bonding Company call at 901-577-1138. We are here to help you 24/7 so that we can help YOU make your bail.  

**Disclaimer**

Please be advised that bailbondmemphis.com and United Bonding Company are not attorneys nor law firms and therefore do not provide legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice, you are strongly encouraged to consider consulting with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction who can provide you with legal advice on your particular matter given that individual state, county or city laws may vary.   www.bailbondmemphis.com and United Bonding Company provides INFORMATION ONLY and the information provided is for informational purposes only AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR SUBSTITUTED FOR LEGAL ADVICE. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is at your own risk.

Help!… I missed my 201 Poplar court date / Shelby County Juvenile Court date in Memphis, Tennessee? If you have found yourself saying this, you definitely have a situation on your hands that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible and running away is only going to make it worse.

If you have a pending criminal case and you have a bond posted with a bail bondsman or have been released on your own recognizance, (ROR-Release On Recognizance) you have promised the court that you will abide by the court’s directives and conditions.

One of these conditions is to appear for all of your court proceedings at the date and time the court has given to you. Missing your court date means you have violated a court condition and the judge can issue a warrant for your arrest.

Speed and taking action are your greatest ally right now. The quicker you get your warrant resolved, the better you look in the eyes of the court. 

Here are the 2 most important things to do when you have missed your court date.

1. Contact your attorney and tell them that you have missed your court date.

An attorney can often make arrangements to get the warrant recalled without you having to go back to jail. Be prepared to go back to court with your attorney in order to get the warrant recalled and be issued a new court date.

2. Contact your bail bondsman IMMEDIATELY if you have missed court and are out on a bail bond.

If you do not contact your bondman immediately, he/she may feel compelled to give your file to a fugitive recovery agent (a.k.a. bounty hunter) and they will find you and arrest you….obviously this is not the way you want to be taken in before a judge.

Here are just some of the consequences that can happen as a result of missing your court date and not getting a warrant taken care of:

1. You will have to keep running…the court, the police, your bondsman, and attorney will all be wondering what happen to you and eventually someone is going to catch up with you. You may be prevented from getting a job when an employer runs a background check.
2. You have made yourself look bad in the eyes of the court because you did not resolve your situation in a timely fashion.
3. Both you and the people who co-signed your bail bond can be sued if the bonding agency has to pay your bail bond off to the courts.
4. The clock is ticking because your Tennessee bondsman has 6 months to find you, have you arrested and get you put back in jail before they have to pay the court the full amount of the bond that was set by the judge or magistrate when you were released.

It is better to be safe than sorry and highly recommended that you stay in close contact with your attorney and bail bondsman regarding your appointed court date and time. If you are wondering, “how do i find out my court date”, just give them a call and they will be able to do a court date lookup and tell you.

You may be wondering, “can I reschedule my court date over the phone?”  In certain instances, an attorney might be able to reschedule your court date without you being there.  However, in most instances, you will have to be physically present before the judge on your court date or a warrant will be issued for your arrest.

**DISCLAIMER**

Please be advised that www.bailbondmemphis.com is not an attorney nor law firm and does not provide legal advice. If you are seeking legal advice, you are strongly encouraged to consider consulting with a competent attorney in your jurisdiction who can provide you with legal advice on your particular matter given that individual state, county or city laws may vary. Bailbondmemphis.com provides INFORMATION ONLY and the information provided is for informational purposes only AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR SUBSTITUTED FOR LEGAL ADVICE. THE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. No guarantees are made and the use of the website, content, and any information provided is at your own risk.