Did you use the assistance of a bail bond to get out of jail before your hearing? If so, it's important that you work with your bail bondsman until you return to court. You do not want to make mistakes that can can have financial consequences that cause you to lose your bail bond and the collateral that has been provided.

Tell The Bondsman About Relevant Changes

It's important that the bondsman has current contact information for you while you are released from jail. If you are going to be changing your address, even if it is temporarily, you should let the bondsman know. The bondsman may want to check in on you to make sure you are following the terms of the bail, and if they cannot locate you, it could cause a big problem.

Check In With The Bondsman When Requested

It's also possible that your bondsman will require regular check-ins with them as part of the terms of receiving the bail bond. This is usually based on how much the bail amount is, with a higher than usual bail amount requiring more frequent check-ins. Make sure you attend every appointment with your bondsman. The goal is to ensure you're doing alright and to give you a reminder about your upcoming court date, so it is nothing to be worried about.

Attend Your Court Hearing

The worst thing that you can do is miss your court date. It can either be due to an accident by completely forgetting about it, or intentionally due to not wanting to face the consequences for your actions. When you miss your court date, you will become a fugitive, according to the court. You will use the amount that the bondsman posted for bail, and you'll be required to pay back all the money to them. If you don't pay up, the collateral given for the bail bond will be taken.

The bondsman may also use a bounty hunter to try to find you and will do what it takes to track you down so they can recover the bail amount that was lost. The bounty hunter will take a percentage of the returned bail in exchange for tracking you down, but it will be worth it to the bondsman to recover a lot of the money that was paid for bail.

If you have any questions about how bail works, reach out to a local bondsman.