What happens to bail (bond) money if the criminal is killed while out on bond?

I would bet the state keeps the money.

Since the point of the bond is to secure the person’s appearance before the court I would quite imagine that it is forfeit no matter the reason for their failure to appear.

Here ya go.

I think Darth is right. Just like that huge amount of money that is paid into social security by people who don’t live long enough to collect it, it is forfeited.

From the link: “Question: If someone who is out on bail dies, does the person who bailed them out get their money back?

“Answer: If the defendant who is deceased used a bail bondsman, the fee that was paid to the bondsman for release is nonrefundable. If monies are still owed to the bondsman due to a payment arrangement, then the bondsman would still need to be paid.

However, if cash bail was paid for the full bail amount to the court, the bail money will be refunded to the person who posted the bail, less any fees owed to the court.”

When you arrange for a bail bond, you give the bond agent 10% of the bail, and you never get that back even if you don’t miss any court and are found not guilty or if charges are dropped.

My only experience bailing someone out, was that after the court appearance I was able to file to get my money returned to me because I wasn’t the bad guy and wasn’t related to the bad guy.