Being arrested and sent to jail can be a scary and overwhelming experience. Most likely, your first priority is getting back into the free world, and for that you’ll need to post bail. But if you either don’t want friends or family to know, or you don’t want to ask money from them, can you post your own bail?
What is bail?
Bail is essentially setting up a financial incentive for people who have been arrested to show up to their court date. You pay a certain amount of cash or property that has cash value that will be returned once you return to court when required. If you don’t show up for your court date, your bail will not returned and an arrest will be issued for your arrest. Bail can range anywhere from $500 (the standard for nonviolent petty misdemeanors) to millions of dollars for very wealthy arrested with a flight risk.
But if you don’t have family or friends who will come through to post your bail, is it possible to post it yourself?
The short answer is yes. If the accused is able to pay for their bail *in cash,* they can bail themselves out as the only cosigner. However, this is only possible if the accused has the full amount in cash, which is usually not the case. A friend or family member is also able to post cash bail for the accused without issue.
Usually in these cases, the accused and their loved ones turn to the bondsman. So can the accused pay the bond for a for him or herself?
Yes, but with some caveats. If the accused has a stable job, a good credit score, and owns a home, the bondsman will likely allow them to pay for their own bail bond. The bondsman only makes money from people who have the assets to pay him back.
If the accused doesn’t meet this criteria, it is likely the bondsman will ask the accused to contact someone else to buy a bail bond for them.
Thank you for visiting the Gabriella Young blog, an Austin criminal defense lawyer. We write to inform locals about law changes, events and news.