After a person commits a crime, a judge sets a bail amount as a way to ensure the individual will appear in court. Since most people cannot pay the hundreds or thousands of dollars needed to stay out of jail until his or her court date, they rely on bail bond agents and family for financial assistance. If you’re planning to co-sign a bail bond for a friend or loved one, learn what happens if the person does not appear in court. This act is known as bail jumping.

What You Should Know About Bail Jumping if You’re Co-Signing a Bail Bond

Notices & Grace Periods

If the defendant you co-signed for doesn’t make their court date, the court will usually send notice to the bail bond agency letting agents know the individual was a no-show. State courts generally give grace periods to defendants; however, how long these periods last vary. As the co-signer, you are also given a grace period of about 90 days to turn the defendant in and save your bail bond from default status. If a bail bond is in default, you’re at risk of losing all the money you put up to get your friend out of jail, or at risk of losing the collateral, such as your house or car, that you used to secure the bond. 

Bench Warrants

When someone skips their court dates, bench warrants are put out for their arrest. Georgia state courts, for example, take bail jumping extremely seriously and issue bench warrants even for relatively minor crimes and misdemeanors such as traffic violations. As a co-signer, you can either bring the defendant to the local police station or wait for the bench warrant arrest. Regardless, you will follow the same process to remove your bond from default status.

The defendant will still face criminal charges as well as additional charges for skipping bail. In Georgia, accused individuals who jump bail get Failure to Appear charges, or FTAs, in addition to bench warrants. What these charges include depend on the crime. For instance, skipping bail after a traffic violation will usually result in license suspension. If the original charge was a felony, the defendant will face felony bail jumping that includes up to $5,000 in fines and one to five years in prison.

Fugitive Recovery

Depending on where the crime took place, you may be able to hire a fugitive recovery agent to bring the defendant into custody so you can get your bail money back. In Georgia, these bounty hunters are known as bail recovery agents. Unfortunately, if the individual cannot be brought into custody, the bail money is forfeited to the court and you will not get it back.
 

If you need to hire a bail agent for a friend or loved one, turn to Godfrey Bonding in Canton, GA. Their agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week since arrests can occur at any time of the day or night. The oldest agency of its kind in Cherokee County,  this family-operated business provides free consultations and accepts cash, checks, and all major credit cards. The agency is also located near the Cherokee County Detention Center for client convenience. Call (770) 479-5230 today to schedule a consultation or learn about co-signer requirements online.