Bail bond is the financial agreement between criminal defendant and the bail bond agent. It’s the agents who are arranging with court to temporarily release the defendant from a detention center in exchange for a bond. Because of this, the agency assures that the defendant would show up on the scheduled dates for court trials.

Oftentimes, the defendant or client pays 10 percent to the bail agency before they are released. If they’re found innocent, they’ll receive the full amount of bail while the bond agency takes 10 or 20 percent as charge.

There are rules governing bail bonds and this varies depending on the state. But for the purpose of this article, we’ll be focusing on the state of Utah.

Bail Agent Licensing Requirements

As per 35-4-401 of the Bail Bond Act, there are guidelines for how to have a license and what are entailed in that licensing. Basic requirements are:

• Must be 21 years old
• Appointed by surety
• Has good moral character and;
• No record of felony conviction

Interested bondsman should also have their fingerprint scanned for background check. They must pass an examination and pay for a nonrefundable fee and then submit their application.

Bond Forfeiture

The released defendant sometimes fail to show up to court on date required. In such instance, the court has the power to decide whether or not to forfeit the bail. This falls under 77-20b-104. The forfeiture notice is sent both to the bail bond agent and agency they’re working for. The court is going to release a bench warrant within a month.

As a matter of fact, Utah is among the most lenient states and gives 6-month grace period to which the agent can respond to the notice. If they’ll be able to find the defendant and bring them to court on the given timeframe, they won’t forfeit the bail bond. Else, the warrant immediately goes after the respondent and forfeit it.

Arresting Authority

Based on 53-11-102, the bail bondsman is permitted to put into action the conditions of defendant’s bail or take them into custody and bring them to court. They should notify local authorities too if they’ll go in a certain location. They should let the local authorities know that they are planning to arrest the defendant within their authority either with 24 hours after or before conducting search and arrest.

Then again, these rules and guidelines are applicable to the state of Utah only. If you’re living in a different state, then you might want to ask “bail bonds near me” to understand the things they can and cannot do.