• You can find out what the most likely bail will be in your case by looking up the “Standard Bail Schedule” in the county where you are being charged. You will always find that on the county’s superior court web site.

• You should contact an attorney before you post bail because you should consider all options prior to paying a bail bonds company because it is very easy to waste money in this situation.

• For instance, if you pay thousands of dollars paying a bail bonds company to get you out of jail and the very next court date your bail is doubled or quadrupled, you will still owe the bonds company, but may not be able to afford the additional bail. You can throw away thousands of dollars this way.

• What a bail bond company does is basically give you a loan. If the bail is $30,000, then a bail bonds company will loan you that money to pay the bail bond in return for your paying them a fixed percentage of the loan. In the case of $30,000, that can be as much as $3,000.

• All bail bond companies should give you a 2% discount on their fee once you hire a private attorney.

• The fee a bail bond company in California will charge is 10%. As mentioned above, if you hire a private attorney, they should reduce the rate to 8%.

• Some bail bond companies are willing to negotiate, even for fees below 8% of the bail imposed on your case.

• If you post the bail without using a bail bond company, you will get all your money back after your case is resolved. This can save you thousands of dollars that could be used for your defense. Most people don’t have the kind of money necessary to post the whole bond themselves, but if you do, it is a much better investment than paying up to 10% of the bail to a bail bond company.

• If you have not appeared in court yet and have not paid bail, the court may impose bail on the first court date. If the court does impose bail, you will be remanded into custody and won’t be released until you pay the bail.

• If you can handle being in a jail cell, it is far better to wait until you first day in court to pay any bail because your attorney may be able to get you released “on your own recognizance.” This means that, instead of your paying bail to get out, the judge releases you without bail. Call an attorney right away to find out what your best course of action is!