Bada Bing Bail Bonds Houston - FAQ - Bail Bonds for Other Cities & Counties

Do you do bail bonds for other cities & counties in Texas?

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Written by Jack Meyer

It is possible for a bail bond company in Houston to make arrangements to do bail bonds in other cities and counties in Texas; this is referred to by bail bondsmen as an out of county bail bond.

Bail bond companies are licensed individually in each county in Texas. Most bail bond companies do not make bail bonds anywhere other than in the county where they are licensed for a variety of good reasons.

"If anything can go wrong it will go wrong"

Every county in Texas is different; they have different policies and procedures and if a bail bondsman is not familiar with another county's bail bond policies, how the courts in that county set their court dockets for criminal cases and how they notify bonding companies, defendants, and defense attorneys of future court dates then bad things can happen that were not intended.

The obvious bad things that can happen are that a person misses a court appearance unintentionally for no reason other than they simply didn't know that they were supposed to appear in court. And, if this happens then a whole string of bad things happening follows.

The court will (typically) raise the original bond amount to twice as much as the original bond amount and issue a warrant for the arrest of the person that missed court.

Additionally the bondsman is sued by that county for the full amount of the bond plus court cost, this is referred to as a bond forfeiture.

And, if this happens the bondsman that made the out of county bond in a different county is then unable to do much to fix the problem.

Because the bail bondsman is not licensed in that county they are unable to help the defendant or to protect themselves from potential liability by posting a new bail bond, in other words the (out of county) county will not accept a new bail bond from anyone other than a bondman licensed in their county.

The bondsman may be able to convince the judge to agree to reinstate the original bond; this simply means that the court agrees to set the bond forfeiture aside or (drop the civil law suit against the bondsman) after the cost of filing the law suit have been paid (court cost) and allow the original criminal bond to remain in effect. However, "if anything can go wrong it will" and so this is an unlikely possibility; the bondsman and the criminal defendants' best hope of this happening are 50/50.

A bondsman that is licensed in the (out of county) county may or may not want to help because they are wondering "why didn't the person go to court the first time?"

And, it is difficult enough to get bail bondsmen to agree to make a bail bond for an individual that does not reside in their county to begin with, now add the fact that the criminal defendant has already missed a court date and you have a bail bondsman that simply isn't going to feel comfortable unless some form of collateral (security) is put up to secure the new bail amount.

The next sentence is a long strung out sentence that sums up the long string of bad events that can and do happen every day when a bail bondsman agrees to make a bail bond for someone in jail in their county that is being detained for charges pending in a different county, an (out of county bail bond).

The end result of all the above being,- that the person that missed their court date ends up with an open warrant for their arrest,- the bail bondsman that originally helped them by posting a bail bond for them from the city and county where they live,- in the (out of county) county where they are not licensed is unable to do anything to help fix the problem and is now being sued,- a new bond is required which is substantially higher than the original bond so more money is needed,- and the defendant is unable to get another bondsman interested in helping them without placing some sort of collateral on deposit in order to satisfy the new bondsman.

Everything stated above then typically ends up with the criminal defendant being placed back in jail with no ability to get back out.

It is always best to try and make arrangements with a bonding company licensed in the county where the criminal case is pending. When this is not possible it is almost always more difficult and more expensive to try and make arrangements with a bonding company that is not licensed in the county where the criminal case is pending.

We do not typically make bonds in other cities and counties throughout Texas, if we do then it is always more expensive and almost always some form of collateral is required to guarantee the bail bond.