Nobody wants to think about worst case scenarios in their lives. However, when one of your loved ones is arrested for a crime, the situation definitely qualifies as a worst case scenario. And, if it has never happened to you before, you may find yourself feeling confused and unsure of how to act or proceed. Get to know some of the things you can expect from the situation and will have to do in order to properly handle the situation when your loved one is arrested. Then you can be prepared to step into action if the situation ever occurs.

Your Loved One Will Have To Appear Before A Judge To Have Bail Set

When your loved one is first arrested, you may think that you will be able to follow them straight to jail and bail them out. In almost all cases, this is not what can occur. Once a person is arrested for a crime, they are processed by the police and placed in jail.

They will remain in holding in jail until they can appear before a judge. If your loved one is arrested late in the day on a Friday or during the weekend, this means they will be waiting until at least Monday (usually afternoon) before they even get to see a judge. Once they do go before the judge, they are told their charges and allowed to speak for themselves to their guilt or innocence as well as to explain what happened if appropriate.

Based on the case information and what your loved one says, the judge will determine if bond (bail) will be set and how much that will be. Then, your loved one will return to jail until bail can be posted.

Understanding Bailing Someone Out Of Jail

If you go to court when your loved one appears, you may be shocked when you hear the dollar amount that bail is set at. This is because the amounts can range from thousands to millions and are often far higher than most people can pay outright.

However, do not fear; to bail someone out of jail, you need only pay 10 percent of the full bail amount. As such, if the judge says bail is set at $10,000, you will only need to come up with $1,000 to get your loved one released from jail.

There are numerous options to come up with the money to bail your loved one out. If you have a large family or group of friends to rely on, you can all pool your resources together to bail them out. However, if this is still not enough, you can contact a bail bondsman to help you come up with the funds. Bail bonds work when a professional bondsman puts up the funds for your loved one to get them out of jail.

The bail bondsman will charge you a fee (like a down payment)  before they will post bond for your loved one. Then, once they do post bond, they will need to be paid back. If your loved one is determined to not be guilty of the charges or the charges get dropped, that bond will be returned by the courts. However, if your loved one is eventually found guilty, you will have to pay back the bondsman yourself. As such, be sure that you will be able to repay the bondsman before you go this route.

Now that you know a few of the things you can expect and do when your loved one is arrested, you can be fully prepared if the situation ever occurs in your life.

For a professional bail bondsman, contact a company such as All-Mobile Bail Bonds.

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