Things you should know before cosigning a bail bond
Cosigner Defined: A cosigner, also known as an indemnitor, on a bail bond is someone who guarantees all aspects of the bail bond itself. The cosigner guarantees that the bail bond premium (cost of the bond) gets fully paid. The cosigner also guarantees that the defendant will go to court each and every court date and that if the defendant fails to go to court the cosigner will help to locate the defendant.
Q. If the Defendant fails to go to court, otherwise known as jumping or skipping bail, what are the cosigner’s responsibilities?
A. In the event that the defendant fails to go to court the co-signor will become liable for all cost involved in locating, the now known as fugitive. It is important that the cosigner understands to limit additional cost it is their responsibility to help in the search of the fugitive. Any additional help that the cosigner can provide will lessen any additional cost in locating and apprehension of the fugitive.
Q. What’s the maximum dollar amount a cosigner is responsible?
A. In the event the defendant fails to appear, and cannot be located the defendant will be charged for all fugitive recovery fees as well, face value of the bond that was written, legal fees that may have been incurred, as well as any additional court cost. To give you an idea, a bail bond forfeiture of $10,000 dollars can easily run $15,000 dollars after all charges have been tallied.
Q. What’s the maximum amount of time that the bail bonding company has to locate the fugitive before the cosigner has to pay the bond and any additional cost?
A. The bail bonding company has six months, from the date of forfeiture, to get the fugitive back into sheriff custody but can also request an additional six months from the court if they can show progress being made in the locating of the fugitive.
Q. If I the cosigner believe that the defendant will not go to court, what should I do?
A. If you at any time feel that the defendant will not complete their obligations to Bond Company and the court than it is extremely important to contact the bail bonding company immediately and notify them of the situation.
Please note: It is never wise to tell the defendant of your intention on notifying the bail bonding company, nor is it a good idea to threaten the defendant as this may lead to the defendant getting “spooked” and fleeing prematurely.
We at All American Bail Bonds have a nearly 100% rate in locating fugitives.
When the cosigners help we will often not charge them for any additional apprehension fees, beyond the booking cost charged to us by our booking agents.
Most of our bail agents are seasoned fugitive recovery agents and will work closely with the cosigner in the locating and apprehension of the fugitive.
In the event that a defendant fails to appear, it is our goal to get the fugitive back into custody as quickly as possible and preferably without incident.
Our policy here at All American Bail Bonds is we work for the cosigner, not the defendant.
The cosigner’s satisfaction always comes first!
