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What Happens When Someone Skips Bail In Los Angeles?

Posted by Ronald D. Hedding, ESQ. | Oct 12, 2018

When an individual posts bail on a criminal case in Los Angeles County and later on doesn't show up for the court, what ends up happening is the court will issue a warrant for that person's arrest and will forfeit their bail.

In order to get that bail back – let's say someone misses a court date then three days later they come back, the bail has already been forfeited. What we do is we have the bail bond company issue what's called re-assumption papers. These papers are a formal request to the court to re-assume the bail. If the court approves the re-assumption, the bail is reinstated, and you can continue to defend yourself in the case while you're out of custody.

But the judge doesn't have to leave the bail the same. The judge can say, I don't know why you didn't show up. I don't care why you didn't show up. I'm now going to raise the bail because you didn't show up on the bail that it was.

So, that's something just to bear in mind if you've missed a court date and you now have a warrant and you want to get that bail re-assumed. But what typically happens is, let's say, somebody just runs away to another country.

Bail Forfeiture in Los Angeles – Warrant for Arrest

The bail gets forfeited, and then a warrant is issued for their arrest. What ends up happening to that bail is that whoever posted that bail is going to lose that money. So, let's say it's a bond company. Your parents, for example, got the bail for you, and they put up a premium of, let's say, 10% or 5%, whatever the percentage is, and then the bail is forfeited by the judge, now the court is going to go and try to get that bail. So, let's say it's $100,000.00 bail. Whoever posted the bail from the courts is going to get their money from?

So, let's say it's a bond company. They may have an insurance company, but the bottom line is that the Bond Company is going to be responsible for paying the money. This is because when a bond company posts bail, they are essentially guaranteeing the court that the defendant will appear for all court dates. If the defendant fails to appear, the bond company is responsible for the full bail amount.

So, what the bond company ends up doing is they're going to try to foreclose on whatever collateral they took—let's say they attached it to a home or a car—or they're going to try to make those two items be sold so they can get their money. Collateral is a form of security that the bond company takes to protect themselves in case the defendant fails to appear in court. It could be a valuable asset like a home or a car.

Let's say the bond company needed to be smarter to get any collateral for the $100,000.00; well then, they're going to send in lawyers to try to stall the court from completely forfeiting the bond and making them pay the money. Typically, there are about 180 days that they can mess around with the case, and then after that, they're going to need to have some real good justification for the judge not to try to take that money from them.

Bounty Hunter

An example of that would be, they've got a bounty hunter trying to chase and catch the guy. They've figured out where the person is. They're closing in on him. They need a couple of months.

The judge might give it to them under those circumstances. This is why the bond companies put in their contracts that people can't leave the country. They sometimes take people's passports.

I've seen them put ankle monitors on them, especially on high bail, if the bond company doesn't have enough collateral to protect themselves and the person skips, especially in a serious crime where the person could be looking at many years in prison, the bond company is going to be out that money eventually, and that's a lot of money to lose.

So, instead of losing that money, they're going to want to catch the person, and that's how bounty hunters have jobs in Los Angeles County because they're trying to catch people who skip on bonds and make sure that the bond company doesn't lose their money.

So, the bond company is actually allowed to go and make a citizen's arrest on the person – grab them and bring them into the county jail – bring them into law enforcement and say, this guy has a warrant out for their arrest.

They skipped on their bond, and if they can do it within the right time parameters, then they won't lose their money; as long as they get that person back in custody, they're good.

That's why you'll often see someone acting like an idiot while they're out in custody, not cooperating with the bond company, or not paying their premium; it turns out the collateral is no good.

The bond company will just grab the person, bring them into custody, and say, Judge, we no longer are going to be responsible for this bond. We want this person taken into custody, and that person is going to be taken into custody. The judge isn't going to leave him out if the bond company's not going to uphold the bond, and then that person would have to get another bond company in Los Angeles to post their bond and make sure that they can remain out of custody while their case is pending.

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About the Author

Ronald D. Hedding, ESQ.

Ronald D. Hedding, Esq., is the founding member of the Hedding Law Firm. Mr. Hedding has an extensive well-rounded legal background in the area of Criminal Law. He has worked for the District Attorney's Office, a Superior Court Judge, and as the guiding force behind the Hedding Law Firm. His multi-faceted experience sets Mr. Hedding apart and puts him in an elite group of the best Criminal Defense Attorneys in Southern California.

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