New capacities of the Notary with the Law of Voluntary Jurisdiction

With the approval of the new Spanish Law 15/2015 of July 2 of the Voluntary Jurisdiction, is increased the capacity in favor of the Notaries, Land Registers and Mercantile Registers, with a consequent decrease in workload at Spanish Courts and Tribunals.   Notaries in Spain may attend and resolve different queries in civil, inheritance, marriage, mortgage and even commercial matters, where there is no dispute between the parties and therefore the intervention of the Courts is unnecessary.   Therefore, it is increased in benefit of the individuals the numbers of professionals experts in law to solve different issues that up to date were reserved to the judiciary.   Among the most important capacities that Spanish Notaries can play with the new Law on Voluntary Jurisdiction, we find:  

1. Civil marriage in Spain shall be celebrated before a Notary, from the entry into force of the law (not being necessary to wait until 30^th June 2017, as set out in the Transitorily Provision 4 of Law 15/2015), not the processing of the marriage certificate to be resolved before the civil registrar, expressly stating the officer that will be in charge of celebrating the marriage, in this case the notary.

 

2. The Spanish Notary may also attend separation process and divorce by mutual agreement, where there are no minor children of the marriage, by granting a regulatory agreement in a Public Deed.

 

3. The Notary may also declare heirs intestate (without Last Will), parents, children, spouses and adding the collateral heirs of the deceased.

 

4. The new Spanish law also recognizes faculties to the Notaries for the recognition and debt settlement, where there is no opposition between the parties.

  In the event that you need advice regarding this matter or any other that you may have before a Spanish Notary, please do not hesitate to contact the English speaking Spanish lawyers and accountants in Marbella of Arcos & Lamers Asociados, lawyers in Spain and tax advisors in Marbella, we have an expert team ready to answer your questions and to provide legal and fiscal advice in Spain.   Félix Ruiz, lawyer in Marbella.