There are basically two main types of bonds in Virginia. If you are arrested for a crime instead of being held in jail until your trial date, the judge can set some type of bond so that way you can get out to work, to take care of your affairs and also of course assist in your defense.
The first main type of bond is called personal recognizance bond. This type of bond simply means that you are released upon your personal promise to come back to court. Typically, if you are being bonded out in this way, you have to sign a paper that states that you promise that if you fail to appear in court then you will pay the Commonwealth of Virginia a certain sum of money. This type of bond can be used in some cases like a basic first offense DWI in which you have no other record and no other issue. In this case, you might promise to pay $1,000.00 on a personal recognizance bond otherwise known as a PR bond.
The benefit to a PR bond is that you simply sign your name and you get released. You don’t have to worry about having a bondsman or putting money down. It is very convenient for the defendant.
The other main type of bond is called a cash or corporate surety bond. This is where it’s a little more of a risky case where the Commonwealth doesn’t want to just release you on your promise to appear, but there’s a reason that you should be able to get out. It’s still a lower level type of case and you’re not a menace to society or a risk for not appearing in court.
The main difference between a PR bond and a cash or corporate surety bond is for the latter, you would either have to have a bondsman post a corporate surety or you would need to post a cash bond. For bondsmen, a lot of times the what you do is you pay the bondsman a 10% fee or 10% of the total bond amount. The bondsman posts a corporate surety bond for you and basically the bondsman is promising that they will make sure you’re in court.
If your bond is set at a lower amount or a bondsman won’t post it for you, you can post a cash bond. A cash bond is basically putting up the money for the total bond amount to the court and assuming you do reappear in court and do the things that are required of you, then the bond would be refunded to you once the case is finished. This option could be attractive because you don’t have to actually lose that 10% to the bondsman. The 10% bond fee is actually paying the bondsman for their work and so you don’t get that back but if you post a cash bond, the whole bond should be refunded assuming you do appear at court as you’re supposed to.
If you or someone that you know has been arrested and needs to be bonded out of jail, call me if their case is in the Fredericksburg area. I’m happy to discuss the different bond possibilities and how we can try to help them out.
Photo by: Brandon Milner Photography