In the state of Alabama, licensed bail bondsmen are required by the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure to obtain a surety bond in the amount of $25,000 (or $10,000 in Cullman County). The Alabama Bail Bondsman Bond is offered by Jet Insurance Company as a form of financial guarantee that funds will be available if a bail bondsman is required and fails to refund collateral to an accused member of the public.
When you buy your bond with Jet, you take advantage of Jet’s streamlined application process. You get the bond you need for your business at a competitive rate, with minimal red tape, direct from the surety carrier.
With Jet, the Alabama Bail Bondsman bond starts as low as $25 per month with Jet’s unique monthly payment option, or $250 for one year. For those looking to lock in a rate for the long haul, you can also purchase the bond in 2-year and 3-year increments (see table below for preferred tier pricing).
Bond Term | Cost |
---|---|
Monthly | $25 |
1 Year | $250 |
2 Years | $438 |
3 Years | $625 |
Jet Insurance Company is changing the surety bond process to cut out the middlemen who slow you down and can cost you more with their commissions and fees. With Jet, you are buying your bond directly from the surety carrier, so you get your bond faster, at a competitive rate, and hassle-free.
The Alabama Bail Bondsman bond provides a financial guarantee to the state of Alabama and its counties, ensuring that funds will be available in cases where a bail bondsman is required to refund collateral to an accused member of the public. If a defendant appears to all of their required court dates and hearings, the collateral portion of their bail amount should be returned to them by the bail bondsman. In other cases, a municipal court may rule that the defendant was not properly served and that the state or county must forfeit their bail amount. The bond ensures that this fiduciary responsibility to the public is met.
While the Alabama Professional Bail Bonding Board owns and manages the licensing requirement as written in the Rule 7.1 Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedures, the surety bond is required by law in the individual counties where the bail bondsman desires to operate their business. The bond benefits the Probate Court of the county where the bail bondsman conducts business.
Applying for your bond takes just minutes with Jet! We will ask for some basic information, such as name, license information, county of business operations, and Social Security Number. We will run a soft credit check to help determine the rate for your bond (don’t worry, this will not affect your credit score.)
Once you have selected your payment option (monthly, 1-year, or multi-year) and provided payment, a copy of the bond and a receipt will be sent to you for your records.
Yes, Jet can! Based on the county you selected in your application, Jet can file the original, signed and sealed bond directly with the probate judge’s office.
An electronic copy of the bond will be sent to you immediately after purchase, as well as a physical copy for your records.
If you would prefer to file the bond with the probate judge’s office yourself, that option will be available at checkout. All paperwork must be sent to the appropriate probate judge(s) for the counties in which you will operate. You can find the current mailing address for the probate judge in each Alabama county at the Alabama Secretary of State’s website.
Cancelling your bond with Jet is easy, and you can cancel at any time. Once the Jet team sends notification to the probate judge in each county in which you are cancelling your bond, the liability will end 30 days after notification.
During that time, if you are on our monthly payment option, Jet will need to charge for that period while the liability is still in effect. If you chose our annual or multi-year payment options, the Jet team will determine if there is any unused premium available to refund to you and send it once the bond is released by the county.
With Jet’s monthly payment option, renewal is automatic as long as you continue to make payments from your preferred account.
With our annual or multi-year payment options, Jet will send you a renewal notice well prior to the expiration date of your bond. No additional paperwork is required; just submit payment for the upcoming bond term and Jet will take care of the rest!
Once a municipal court has ruled in favor of the forfeiture of a bail amount back to the defendant, the entire bail amount (the cash profit to the bondsman and the collateral) must be returned to the accused party by the bail bondsman. Once this ruling has been made, there is little the bail bondsman or surety can do or should do to reverse that decision. Collateral is just that and must be returned as agreed upon.
Per the APBBB Administrative Code, collateral that is being refunded to the defendant must be returned by the bail bondsman within 30 days of the client’s adjudication. Bail bondsmen can avoid claims prior to reaching that point by complying with the professional standards disseminated by the APBBB, and avoiding complaints from defendants to the maximum extent possible. If given an opportunity to resolve the forfeiture without the issue proceeding to a bond claim, the bail bondsman should endeavor to do so.
Notify Jet immediately if you receive notice of a claim against your bond, or find that a municipal court is considering forfeiture of bail for a client of yours. Jet will defend you as much as possible, but in order to do so, Jet will need your cooperation and honest communication about the details of the case.
If the claim is found valid Jet Insurance Company is obligated by the terms of the bond to pay on your behalf, up to the limit of the bond, should you have refused or cannot pay the claim. The Bail Bondsman bond is a surety bond that demonstrates for the probate court that a Bail Bondsman is considered economically viable to conduct business, including potential refunds of bail. Consider Jet as a financial guarantor in this respect, paying your debt on your behalf. You are still responsible for your actions that resulted in the claim, and will need to reimburse Jet for the amount paid on your behalf. Failure to do so would result in your bond being cancelled, thereby preventing you from conducting business in Alabama counties, as well as finding difficulty in obtaining a bond in the future.