Austin surety bonds

When it comes to surety bond services, we aim to deliver the best customer experience at all costs. First Name. Last Name. Email Address. Surety Bonds In Texas. Meet Our Team. Surety Bond Services. Why Choose Ballew Surety? We believe relationships are the foundation our industry is built upon.

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For a Class B Misdemeanor, the time limit is half a month. For a Class A Misdemeanor, the time limit is a month.

For a Felony, the time limit is three months. Of course, other offenses currently charged are taken into consideration and all pending charges must qualify for pretrial release. However, detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not qualify if the sole purpose is to decide whether the defendant is a lawful resident. Once the jail verifies this information, they must tell the judge, who in turn is required to issue an arrest warrant, commonly called a capias.

However, the surety must pay for all fees associated with the transportation of the defendant back to the local county jail. This is what allows bounty hunters to get people back to jail, something normally the only sheriff officers have the right to do. During magistration, the judge can set any conditions of the bond they see fit to protect the community and to ensure the defendant appears for court dates. If a condition is violated, Article Once the judge finds the violation occurred, the surety bond will be revoked and an arrest warrant will be issued right away, most times for double the original bond amount.

After the accused is back in jail, the surety is relinquished of any liability at that point. Repeat customers are the dream of any business. These were tools used for people to return to work fast. This is still the case to this day. During this era of exploring the western US, this was a very individualistic pursuit for many. In addition, bond amounts started getting more expensive, out of reach for the normal working-class person.

These two circumstances gave rise to the surety bond fee that people pay to get out of jail. There were alternatives that could work equally as well. But this was a highly profitable business for those involved on the surety end. There were a few states that banned this business altogether because there was such a high risk of succumbing to corruption.

There were two events that spawned higher bond amounts. The first was defendants who were released on bond during the pretrial phase of their case. They committed serious crimes when they were out on bond. This made judges consider the safety of the community in the bond decision process.

Furthermore, there was the perception during this time that drugs were bad — really bad. So in response, judges raised bond amounts for people accused of such possession charges. In combination, the result was high bond amounts. Surety bond businesses were happy. Higher bond amounts meant they made more money. The surety bond businesses wanted to put a stop to this activity.

So they formed the American Bail Coalition. This powerful group partnered up with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a very strong lobby group.

Their goal was to eliminate the spread of pretrial services in America. This was successful. Most bondsmen operate individually. But for the most part, big surety bond businesses back them. Surety bond businesses indirectly influence politicians who make decisions on minimizing the rules and regulations that apply to a bondsman. Of course, they want higher bond amounts too because that helps their bottom line. And they want to reduce pretrial service funding and make it more difficult for arrestees to qualify for a personal bond.

Most people are in the pretrial phase of their case. These are people who have pled not guilty and many of those people will want to assert their constitutional right to request a jury trial by their peers. The bond system in Austin is complicated and there are many options for people to get out of jail along with pros and cons for each, but most people think they must pay a surety bond if they want to fight their case from the outside.

Traditional surety bond services are for car and home insurance. If something were to happen like a flood or hurricane, then the catastrophic event happened that is covered under your policy, and the surety bond business will pay for the damages and to fix your car or house. The surety bond business is the insurer and the first remedy. In contrast, the surety bond service is backwards. If Johnny gets re-arrested or shows back up to court again, then the bondsman can withdraw as their surety citing the reason that Johnny failed to meet his end of the bargain of the contract.

The bond business will sue the family member in the civil court for the surety bond amount. The bond agent is required to store money in a build-up fund, in the event that something like this happens. If the family member is insolvent, then the bond agent has to pony up the money to the county.

But the bondsman is the gatekeeper for who they let co-sign, and people are required to have collateral, good credit, or a good job to even qualify for a surety bond.

Collateral is the most secure form of property protecting the financial liability of the bondsman. The likelihood that a bondsman will deplete their build-up fund is very low. Because they make huge profits off of everyone that goes to court. Most bond business owners drive nice cars and live in nice houses, so the business is pretty stable. Worst case scenario, if the bond agent loses their license and goes out of business, then, and only then, does the surety bond business backing the bondsman have to pay the county for the surety bond amount.

This is a good business model to be the last one who has to pay. The main concern of the judge releasing an arrestee from jail is whether or not they will skip town and not come back to court to answer the charges against them. This is especially a serious concern the more serious the charges are.

At the very beginning of the criminal justice system in America, people who were arrested could ask friends and families to promise to pay a bond amount if they did not show up to court.

The rationale behind a bond amount and having people pay upfront for their freedom is negative motivation. The hope is that most people will not want to lose their money, so they come back to court. The pure form of a bond amount is a cash bond. This is the person or their family or friends paying the entire bond amount in full upfront before the person is released from jail. There are no middlemen involved in this system. This is the cheapest way to get out of jail because if you go to all of your required court dates, you get the money back minus a small administrative fee.

That hybrid model is called a surety bond. Surety bonds are exactly what they sound like. The caveat is the surety bond can meet their obligation to the court if they pay the full surety bond amount, which is a lot of money, or return the person to court. This is why there are so many TV shows on bounty hunters. These people return people to court. The business model of the surety bond company could not work if they paid 10 times the amount they were paid for their service.

If they had 1 person out of every 10 that did not show up to court, that would wipe out the profit for 10 other people they got out of jail. They maximize their profit this way, by bringing the person back to court. Most people on the run get arrested anyway on their own, so this satisfies the return to custody as well. This was a form of financial oppression for the poor. So people protested. This is exactly what got written into the law in The Bail Reform Act that passed that was a big step in the right direction.

The Bail Reform Act of let the court use flight risk or public safety risk as a reason to keep someone in jail. This is still the system that is used today in Austin. But things have improved in because Austin Pretrial Services is now interviewing people with a Financial Workup that the judge can see and take into consideration when setting their surety bond amount.

So if they do not qualify for a Personal Bond, then they can still afford to get out of jail. There are different ways to get released from jail after being arrested.

When it comes to Austin bonds, a surety bond is one of these options. With a surety bond, the surety company secures the bond amount between the arrestee and the Austin Court.

The bondsman is the middle man and will charge a percentage of the surety bond amount that must be secured before release. Surety bonds are legally binding contracts, essentially insurance policies, among the arrestee, the court, the bondsman, and the surety bond company.

If a defendant skips court and the bondsman neglects to pay the bail amount, the state can go to the surety bond company to get what it is owed. In exchange for a contract, the surety bond company charges the bondsman 10 percent on each.