Seeking Help From a Bail Bonds Company in Contra Costa County CA When Bail Is Very High

Most customers of a bail bonds company in Contra Costa County CA need to come up with relatively small amounts of money, even if the full bail amount is out of reach. A uniform bail schedule automatically sets a certain amount for specific misdemeanor and felony crimes. In some instances, a judge sets bail at a hearing.

How Bail Bonding Works

A bail bonds company in Contra Costa County CA is available to help by posting a surety bond for a fee. Typically, the customer must pay 10 percent of the full bail amount. That can be extremely difficult or even impossible with some types of charges. For instance, $1 million bail requires the customer to pay $100,000 as a nonrefundable fee.

Collateral Requirements

In addition, an agent may be very hesitant to post a surety bond for $1 million unless the customer provides collateral at that level. But most people arrested for crimes do not have substantial assets of any sort.

Misdemeanor Bail Examples

In Contra Costa County, set amounts in the bail schedule vary widely. People can be arrested on a broad range of charges, some of which they might not even have realized are technically crimes. Ticket scalping is illegal, for example. The set bail for that charge is $1,000. A bond for release would only cost $100 with the 10-percent fee. Tripping a fire alarm as a prank has a set bail amount of $2,500. Grand theft, such as stealing a car or valuable jewelry, will cost $5,000 cash bail for release.

Felony Bail Examples

Those are all misdemeanors. Felony bail is generally set much higher. Arson, burglary and robbery are all examples of crimes for which bail is automatically set anywhere from 20,000 to 250,000. Obviously, it can be very hard for someone to come up with $25,000 for a bail bond as well as collateral for the remainder.

Concluding Thoughts

Nevertheless, no matter what the situation, a person should not hesitate to call an agency such as Angela Maxwell Bail Bonds with questions. The agents are a valuable source of helpful information.