SERVE A FOREIGN CLAIM, DOCUMENT, COURT PETITION IN SPAIN.

CONSULTATION:

Dear Sirs,
I am getting divorce in the UK. My solicitors and I are looking to serve an individual with a Divorce Petition personally, and then complete an affidavit of service. The individual lives in the Alicante area. How this can be done?, What is the best way to do it?.

Dear reader,

Thank you for your consultation.

In Spain it is the courts themselves that serve the claim to the respondents, sometimes with the help of the police, etc. Therefore in Spain we do not have personal servers like in other countries such as the United kingdom, etc.

If you want to serve a foreign court case document or claim (which is not handled by a Spanish Court) to an individual you must know that there are essentially different ways to do so. It is important to check that the Court dealing with the case will accept them, before deciding which option to use:

1.- We can serve by using a Spanish Public Notary: This is the most formal option but normally the costs are higher, due to notary fees which could be high depending: if 1 or 2 notaries must act; the number of pages; and if the notary is in the same area as the person to be served…

2.- We, as Spanish Lawyers, could send to the respondents a REGISTERED LETTER. In these cases the Post Office will confirm the letter’s dated receipt and by whom, and also the exact wording of the letter, certifying a copy of it. This could be a good option. However, it is possible that it could be served to someone other than person that we want, that could be a problem.

3.- We can travel and serve the document ourselves, but we do not recommend this option as it could be really expensive and it is not the normal way to proceed in Spain.

There are other options that could be explored, we know that some British people are acting in Spain as ‘process servers’. Also, you can ask the Court in your country to request the assistance of a Spanish Court (international letter rogatory) in order to serve the document, but, you will probably be asked to translate the claim into Spanish, and it could take longer.

Should any reader be in this situation or similar please do not hesitate to contact us and the appropriate advice will be provided.

The information provided in this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.

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