To be a surety guarantor can be a very stressful responsibility. Looking at it from the point of view of theoretical legality, the guarantor is responsible for making sure that the defendant attends all court proceedings. This brings them in as one of the parties responsible for making sure that justice is served.
If you’re ever called upon to become a guarantor, you need to make sure that you understand the full extent of you responsibilities to make sure your defendants remain free. Failure to do so could mean that you lose a lot of money and face potential legal action.
Court Related Complications
Your responsibilities to the courts depend on what court deals with the criminal case. The cases could be dealt with a federal court or with a state level court. This differentiation exists based on what the charges are; the US legal system divides types of charges into categories depending on what the crime was.
Sometimes it’s possible that federal charges might not qualify for a bail altogether. Minding this distinction is important before you decide to take on the responsibility of a guarantor.
Making Sure the Defendant Attends Trial
Once you decide to act as a guarantor for a defendant, your biggest responsibility is to make sure that your defendant attends the trial proceedings. In principle, you paying money to the court to vouch for your defendant also means that you think that they will attend the trial.
It’s entirely possible that if you fail to bring your defendants to court, an investigation is conducted to make sure that you’re not responsible for this. In this situation your defendant becomes a fugitive from the law and you can be charged with obstruction of justice.
This can be a very serious criminal charge and so not only do you put money at risk, you also put your own safety at risk with such a commitment. For this reason many people let their bond agents take on the responsibility, bail agents can take on these financial burdens and in some cases act as bounty hunters to bring in defendants.
Bail Bondsmen As Bounty Hunters
When a defendant fails to come to their court proceedings, the courts forfeit the bail amount and issue a bench warrant. In this situation bail bond agents or the law enforcement authorities can initiate a full scale hunt for the defendant in return for a percentage of the total bail amount.
DeLaughter Bail Bond has been working in Indiana to secure bail for the community for about 2 decades. With operations across major counties in Indiana; including Allen County, Tippecanoe county and Miami County, among others, our agents are available 24 hours a day. Speak with us today for more information on our services or to hire our agents for your surety and transfer bond services in Indiana.
