All Things Bail Bonds

Why did the bondsman drop the bond? he has to have a reason, and that reason will determine if you get your money back or not. If the person in jail violated the terms of the bond then you don’t get your money back. You need to find out why.

For example, my friend went to jail for driving with no license and false ID. He was set a bond of $1000. $500 per case. So we paid $200 total to get him released. He was arrested about a month later for again driving with no license and so the he broke the bond. We won’t get that money back and my friend must stay in jail until all his court dates are over.

Find out why he did. You can also contact your county court house for info on this type of matter.

It depends…

Generally speaking, since you contracted for a service, and he refused to or was unable to provide said service, he MUST therefore return the cash.

File a formal complaint with the licensing agency and the BBB. Then contact a lawyer (most will offer a free initial consult). (S)he can provide you with an opinion on your chances and tell you what you’ll need to do to file in Small Claims Court.

Under normal circumstances: A bondman posts the bail for a person, say $5000, for a price set with the appropriate party (you), say $500 (10% is normal, by the way) and the inmate is set free pending his/her court date(s). When the case is over, and the person has shown up at all of the appearances, the bondman gets his/her bail back and gets to keep the $500 that you gave them as their fee.

Now your case seems rather unusual in that the inmate never left jail. Therefore, no service occurred on the part of the bondsman, and it would be inappropriate for the bondsman to keep any fee. Now, if the inmate was freed and the bond was revoked, then the bondsman did, indeed, perform a service and deserves the money. If, as you indicate, the former is what happened, then you need to press the issue (maintain written records of all contacts).

1) I would start with discussing it with the main person at the bondsman’s company to get them to ‘do the right thing.’

2) If this fails, then I would contact the incarcerating facility to let them know that they have a dishonest bondsman. You may not get satisfaction out of that financially, but it will help to forestall any other persons getting a raw deal like this and will serve as a leveraging pressure on the bondsman.

3) I would suggest contacting the local office of the better business bureau and tha state regulating agency for bail bondsmen (if there is one). These entities will begin the negotiations for you with some leverage.

4) If this fails, you will have to file suit in small claims court to get your money back. This is why you maintained those written records of all contacts, by the way. It sounds like a winnable case.

Good luck!