How Bail Works

Terry Finn Bail Bonds and Madonna's Bail Bonds operate primarily in the greater San Francisco bay area of northern California. Interested parties representing incarcerated subjects are encouraged to contact the licensed bail agent on duty at any of the following offices for immediate bail bond assistance.

Main Office:  650-366-9111

234 Marshall Street, Upstairs #3, Redwood City, CA 94063
behind the San Mateo County Jail at Warren & Marshall Streets.

We maintain other offices and licensed Bail Agents at:

Bail bonds are provided to any Court jurisdiction, jail or police agency in California through our network of licensed agents. We also have the ability to offer bail bond services in many other States through our professional affiliation with several large Insurance or Surety Companies and their respective licensed agencies in those geographical areas.

The premium or fee for a bail bond is generally ten percent of the actual penal amount of the bond set by the State Legislature, County Court or County Jail Commander. The indemnitor is the working adult who generally pays the premium and signs all of the required documents before the bail bond is posted with the Court. The indemnitor will be asked to provide not only the premium but some form of valuable collateral that is generally of a value close to the penal amount of the bail bond. Collateral should be a short form deed of trust on a piece of real property with sufficient equity. However, in some cases, on approved credit of the indemnitor and the incarcerated subject, other collateral may be accepted. Other collateral could be pink slips (ownership certificates) on vehicles; formally appraised jewelry; assignments of bank accounts or some bonds and of course, full cash or credit card deposits in the amount of the bail bond.

Prior to the actual bail bond being issued and posted with the respective Court jurisdiction, all the arrangements, required signatures of indemnitors and deposits of collateral must be made between the indemnitor and the licensed bail agent. The incarcerated subject will not be released from custody until the paper work has been completed. The incarcerated subject will be required to come in later or the next day to complete the required forms and sign the contract documents.

The contract signed by the indemnitor, indemnitors and the defendant or incarcerated subject basically allows the accused to experience freedom and prepare for the required Court appearances. This contract specifically calls for the accused person to make all of the mandated Court appearances, including the sentencing hearing or final adjudication of the case. The indemnitor, in signing the documents and contract, promises that they will be totally responsible for the accused subject during this period of time.

Should the accused subject fail to attend a mandated hearing or Court appearance, the Court will simply issue an arrest warrant for them and submit a forfeiture notice to the bail bond agent, requiring the agent to pay the full amount of the bail bond to the Court.

Should this occur, both the accused and the indemnitor will be responsible for paying not only the full amount of the bail bond but any other costs associated with locating and returning the accused to custody.

Bail Enforcement Agents (formerly known as bounty hunters) are employed to track, locate and arrest the subject if they fail to make their Court appearance. These agents are trained, experienced members of the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents. Several are employed by our organization as are a number of State licensed private investigators who supervise the actual investigation of these people, locating them and bringing them back into custody.

We encourage any Attorneys, criminal justice officials or educators and anyone who believes they may become an indemnitor, to contact our organization to assist them with any specific bail bond situation or application.

For further information or clarification regarding anything on this web site, please do not hesitate to contact the owner, Mr. Terry Finn, California bail bond agency owner/agent, license 0A38965 and 1A38965. He can be reached at 650-366-9111 or by writing to P.O. Box 189 San Carlos, CA 94070-0189.

We accept Discover, Visa and MasterCard.