SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henríquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Pedro Echeguren, López-Ibor Abogados
López-Ibor Abogados Lopez de Hoyos 35 3º 28002 Madrid Spain Tel: +34 91 52 17 818 Email: alfonso.lopezibor@l-ia.com Web: www.lopez-iborabogados.com
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position Once a judgment has been passed, Spanish proce - dural legislation requires the defendant to disclose to the court that its assets are sufficient to satisfy the claim. Failure to comply with such a requirement will result in the imposition of fines, and may give rise to a criminal offence. If the defendant persists in this conduct, the claimant may request that the court requires any bank, public body or registry, and any natural or legal persons the claimant so designates, to disclose whatever goods, money or assets belonging to the defendant of whose existence they may be aware. In its request, the claim - ant must succinctly justify the reasons that led them to believe that the required person or institution may have information relating to the asset position of the defendant. The ownership of landed property is publicly available information in Spain. The information relating to the ownership of other assets is not public, but must be revealed by the person that is aware of its existence if they are required by a court to do so in the manner outlined above. Once a judgment has been rendered, the intermediation of a court is the sole legal means whereby a party may identify another party’s asset position.
2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments The following domestic judgments or non-judicial titles involve enforcement: • any judicial decision rendered by a jurisdictional body of the state independently appointed that can be recognised or enforced (this includes not only court judgments but also court decisions validating court settlements and agreements reached dur - ing the procedure, court documents as decrees, interim measures, etc); and • authenticated public documents (first notarial copy of public deeds, commercial agreements with cer - tain requirements, etc). Different types of domestic judgments are available, as follows: • declaratory judgments, where the court declares the existence of a right, a fact or a conduct; • specific performance judgments, where courts order the defendant to do something, to refrain from doing something or to pay an amount of money – specific performance judgments are enforceable, while declaratory judgments are not technically enforceable (divorce or affiliation); • provisional or final judgments, whether an appeal is available or not; • default judgments, where the defendant does not attend the hearing (ex parte or in audita parte) – such judgments are enforceable only if service was properly performed and the defendant was given
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