SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henríquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Pedro Echeguren, López-Ibor Abogados
Act). • On substantive law matters (Article 560 of the CPA): (a) payment already made; (b) non-monetary obligation already performed; (c) expiry of the enforcement action; (d) error regarding the amount of the debt; or (e) unfair terms in the enforceable non-judicial document (first copy of the mortgage deed), etc. Specific grounds to challenge provisional judgments (Article 528 of the CPA) are the same as those listed for final judgments, plus grounds based on the impos - sibility of reversing the situation created by the pro - visional enforcement of a judgment that is not final but where potential serious damages could arise when enforcing a provisional judgment (Article 525 of the CPA). The burden of proof remains with the party seeking to stay enforcement, and they should provide security to cover any potential losses of the party seeking to enforce the judgment. There are specific grounds for challenging mortgage enforcement proceedings (Article 695 of the CPA). As a general rule, enforcement proceedings will not be stayed, despite the filing of the writ of opposition to enforce the notarial document (ie, mortgage deed). As an exception to the general rule, mortgage foreclosure may be stayed when: • unfair terms are alleged (Article 557.2 of the CPA) in the mortgage contract; • parties agree to stay proceedings (Article 565.1 of the CPA); • there was a third-party ownership claim over the asset before the mortgage contract was executed (Article 696 of the CPA); or • the mortgage deed was fraudulent. Once proceedings are stayed, precautionary meas - ures such as attaching/seizure of assets could be enforced or remain operative if they were already in force. Rulings on motions to stay enforcement can only be appealed on the following grounds (Article 695.4 of the CPA):
• termination of enforcement proceedings; or • dismissal of the motion to stay enforcement, due to unfair terms in the mortgage contract. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments Provisional judgments are unenforceable in the fol - lowing matters: • filiation, paternity, annulment of marriage, divorce, abduction of minors, etc (excluding the economic obligations), due to the difficulty, or even impos - sibility, of reversing the situation created by the provisional enforcement of a judgment that is not final (Article 525 of the CPA); • condemnation of a statement of intent; • judgments declaring the annulment or expiry of intellectual property titles; • foreign provisional judgments, unless otherwise provided by an international treaty to which Spain is a signatory; and • a violation of rights to honour, privacy and family life. Final judgments are unenforceable in the case of: • default judgments where service was not properly performed or, if made, was not performed with suf - ficient time to prepare a defence; • judgments or arbitration awards not containing any statement of sentence (Article 559.1 of the CPA); and • the expiry of the enforcement action (Article 556.1 of the CPA), etc. 2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments There is no specific judgment debtor register, but it is possible to make a note or inscription in the suitable public registry (Land Property Registry, Public Bank - ruptcy Registry, etc), declaring the starting of enforce - ment proceedings. Once the debt is paid (in the case of a monetary obligation), the inscription in the registry will be cancelled. To provide evidence to the Property Registrar that the enforcement judgment has been complied with, the defendant needs to provide the appropriate court ruling stating the satisfaction or set - tlement of the claim.
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