Hugo D. If the police say you committed a crime, that can change your entire lifestyle. Maybe you led a relatively carefree existence, and then an arrest and pending charges blindsided you. Perhaps you committed the crime, but maybe it’s simply a mistaken identity situation causing your current legal woes.
Whether you committed the crime or not, you’ll need the best available criminal defense lawyer. Building your defense against criminal charges becomes so much easier when you have someone on your side who knows the laws and can provide psychological support as well. How will you come up with the money they’ll charge, though?
Criminal lawyers don’t come cheap, so you must find some way you can produce that money. Let’s discuss how you might do that now.
Use Your Savings
Using your savings isn’t something that should make you feel very happy, but that’s probably the most obvious solution. You should see how much the lawyer charges per hour and then look at your bank account and see what you can afford.
With criminal defense lawyers, you must probably pay the hourly rate they give you right after your case concludes. You can’t set up a contingency payment plan like you would if you hired a personal injury lawyer to win a court battle for you. You must pay criminal defense lawyers no matter how the case turns out, and they will want their money promptly.
Borrow from a Relative
Maybe you have no savings or very little money you can take from a checking or a savings account. If so, you might approach a relative and see whether they can lend you some cash.
You might approach a parent, grandparent, sibling, or any other family member you know. If they love you and care about you, they might let you borrow the money. After all, you’re in a tough situation. Without a good criminal defense lawyer, you might end up serving some serious jail time.
You might also approach a friend if you know someone with money with whom you have a good relationship. Some friends will not lend you that cash, but perhaps you’ll get lucky. That depends who you have in your friend circle.
Get a Personal Loan
If you have no money in savings and you can’t get cash through a family member or friend, then you might pursue a loan. You can approach a credit union or bank and see whether they’ll help you. If you’re getting an unsecured personal loan, you probably need a good credit score and a steady job.
If you tell the lending entity that you’re getting the loan because you need a good criminal lawyer, they might shy away and not lend you the money. If they don’t ask you why you need it, you can probably get what you require. If you have a decent credit score and a reliable job, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get your Personal Loans.
Get a Secured Loan
You might also approach a lending entity and get a secured loan. This option makes more sense if you don’t have the best credit score or a steady job at the moment.
Secured loans mean loans where you have something you’ll use as collateral. You must have a house, an expensive car, some jewelry, or something else that’s valuable.
This is not an ideal solution, since now, the lending entity has a lien against the house, car, or whatever else you put up as collateral. That means if you can’t pay back that money, they might repossess the house, car, or whatever else you risked.
Do You Have Any Other Options?
Maybe you do not have any money for a criminal defense lawyer, and you don’t feel like any of the options we mentioned will work for you. You can always use a public defender. They work free of charge, and they have a legal obligation. They must give you the best advice they can.
Most times, they’ll suggest a plea deal, even if you didn’t commit the crime. You might object and say you want a trial, but if you do that without a credible defense lawyer on your side, you’re fighting an uphill battle.
Public defenders seldom have much courtroom experience, which is why you usually want a criminal lawyer if you can get the money together somehow. That way, you can fight the charges and hopefully resolve the situation satisfactorily.
