I'm just going to run, jump and skip bail in California.

Look, not everyone is expecting to be arrested in the once great state of California, and in certain counties the very last thing you want to do is spend anymore time than you need behind those cold iron bars. You are going to find it near impossible to work on any of the accusations and legal issues you are facing while being locked up. Using the bail system can help secure your release to have the freedom needed to handle your upcoming legal troubles.

In California, all 58 counties individually set their standard bail amounts for specific offenses and crimes that fall under each counties bail schedule. At this point you can choose to pay the bail amount in full, or now is the perfect time to hire a bondsmen to post your bond and get you released.

No matter the path you take to make your bail from the county jail, you are officially bound by law to appear in court, and you must continue to appear for all subsequent hearings including any future court dates that get scheduled during the process.

If you fail to show up to just one of your court or hearing dates, and you paid in cash, you will be issued warrants for arrest and you are about to find out how good your county Sherriff's Department is, and say goodbye to the bond money that you paid in full.

If you used a bail bondsmen, the Judge has already set out a warrant for your arrest, the bondsmen are now taking action to locate you, and in some cases California born professional bounty hunters are activated and in the field within the first hour hunting you down.

There is also a very high chance that someone helped you out and co-signed your bail bond, and they are probably having heat attacks and crapping their pants non stop.

What happens when you pay your bail bond in cash and miss any one of your court dates is your bail becomes forfeited. All that cash money that you or someone posted when you first got arrested was a guarantee that you would appear back to any and all court and hearing cases, and once you completed all your required appearances you would normally be refunded a portion of the bail amount back.

But if you for any reason decide not to make just one of those court dates, you instantly forfeit all rights to get back your bail money.

You hired a bail bondsmen instead and got a much better deal than paying all your cash upfront to your county Courts and Jail systems. Now the bail bonds company is the one responsible for paying your full bail amount should you miss even one court appearance.

However it is likely that you or a co-signer had to post some collateral when first securing the bond with the company. The bondsman will start the process to immediately take possession of all collateral signed over and quickly sell it to generate the money needed to pay off your full bail amount as required by the courts.

You can avoid losing all your cash and/or collateral by working with your bail bondsmen and attorney to make for certain you are available to be physically at every court date for the entirety of your case or to get your court date rescheduled.

Wait, it's not over at losing all your money, Because if the bondsmen can't find you immediately and it's pretty rare that people just actually vanish in to thin air, it's now rightfully assumed that you, in all your great moments of wisdom, actually decided to make a run for it.

In comes the Bounty Hunters. This is honestly all they do, they hunt down and track those who fall off the map. They do it for sport, they do it for fun, they do it for a job and get paid. Bounty Hunters get a percentage of your total bond once they hunt you down, apprehend, and return you back to the jurisdiction you belong.

Can you find it in yourself to just hide forever? While the courts grant a good amount of time for the bail bonds company to locate and return the missing person, the bondsmen has until this granted time expires to pay your full bond amount owed.

The Bounty Hunters have already begun conducting legal surveillances of you, known areas, friends and families and any other information they have on you, they can at any time enter your home without a warrant to look for you, and when they finally do catch you, arrest you without reading your Miranda rights.

You thought getting arrested by a cop in the first place was a scary experience, you don't want these thirsty for a find Bounty Hunters who's only goal is to find you, breathing down your neck, and all you got to do is appear in court!

Of course the courts understand that sometimes things can come up that are out of your control, and that life throws us curve balls at the wrong time, and situations can prevent us from appearing in court and causing a forfeited bail. You just got to be responsible and contact your attorney or bail bondsmen who will be able to work with you and help prove to the Judge that the forfeiture should be vacated and your bond exonerated.

The courts have been known to give special circumstances to those who ended up having a serious injury or illness with provided medical documents proving it, ended up detained or arrested in another county, or proof of severe mental illness.

You must appear in court before a judge with in the 180 days of your bail forfeiture in order for the courts to allow your bail bond to be exonerated. Failing to appear in court simply has dire consequences and will be the cause of denied bail in all future court cases.

Stay safe friends!

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