Spanish legal terms, explained in English
Every Spanish case arrives wrapped in vocabulary nobody translated for you. These are the words that appear in the documents, what each one actually does, and which of them decide the outcome of a case.
Property
Nota simple
Land registry extract
An official extract from the Land Registry showing a property's current owner and any charges, mortgages or liens against it. It is the first document checked in any property due diligence, and the cheapest protection available before money moves.
If a seller or agent resists providing one, treat that as the answer to whatever question prompted you to ask.
Registro de la Propiedad
Land Registry
Spain's Land Registry: the authoritative record of who legally owns a property and what encumbrances affect it. Registration is what makes ownership enforceable against third parties, which is why an unregistered purchase is a serious problem rather than a formality.
Catastro
Cadastral register
The cadastral register, which records a property's physical description, boundaries and value for tax purposes. It does not prove legal ownership — the Registro de la Propiedad does. Confusing the two is one of the most common errors foreign buyers make, and the discrepancies between them can matter.
Escritura pública
Public deed
A deed granted before a notary, which is how property transfers and most significant transactions are formalised in Spain. Signing the escritura is the moment ownership passes; registering it afterwards is what makes that ownership secure.
Registro Mercantil
Commercial register
The register of Spanish companies, recording incorporation, directors, share capital and filed accounts. It is where you establish whether a company you are dealing with genuinely exists, who controls it, and whether it has ever filed anything.
Inheritance
Certificado de defunción
Death certificate
The official document formally proving a person has died. It is the first administrative step before anything else in an estate can begin — the last wills certificate, the notary, the bank. Where the death occurred abroad, the foreign certificate normally has to be legalised or apostilled before Spain will accept it.
Certificado de últimas voluntades
Certificate of last wills
A certificate from the central registry stating whether the deceased made a Spanish will and, if so, before which notary. It does not tell you what the will says — only where to find it. Foreign families routinely skip this step because they have never heard of it, and then cannot understand why nothing proceeds.
Testamento
Will
A will. In Spain it is usually granted before a notary and recorded centrally, which is why the últimas voluntades certificate is used to locate it. Where no Spanish will exists, a formal declaration of heirs is required instead — slower, and more expensive.
Herederos forzosos / legítima
Forced heirs / reserved portion
Spanish law reserves a portion of an estate for close relatives, limiting how freely a person may distribute their assets by will. This surprises British and American families in particular, whose own systems allow far greater freedom.
Under the EU Succession Regulation a person may elect that the law of their nationality govern their estate, which can displace forced heirship — but the election has to have been made properly, and that is a question worth resolving before an argument starts.
Gananciales
Community of marital property
The default marital property regime across most of Spain, under which assets acquired during the marriage are jointly owned regardless of whose name appears on them. It matters enormously in both divorce and inheritance, and it may apply to a foreign couple who married or acquired property here without ever choosing it.
Squatters & eviction
Okupa
Squatter
Colloquial term for a person occupying a property without legal title. It is not itself a legal category: the offences that matter are usurpación and allanamiento de morada, and Spanish law treats them very differently.
Usurpación (art. 245 CP)
Unlawful occupation
Occupying a property that is not someone's habitual dwelling — for example an empty or holiday home. It is the lesser offence, and eviction runs through the courts rather than the police, which is slower. This is the category most foreign owners fall into, and it is why evidence and timing matter so much to them.
Allanamiento de morada (art. 202 CP)
Breaking and entering a dwelling
Entering or remaining in someone's actual home against their will. A more serious offence than usurpación, and one that can allow faster police action. Establishing that the property genuinely is a dwelling is the evidential question that decides which route applies.
Desahucio
Eviction proceedings
The formal court procedure for recovering possession of a property from an occupier or a non-paying tenant. It is judicial: there is no lawful self-help route, and changing the locks or cutting the utilities can turn the owner into the defendant.
Desahucio por precario
Accelerated eviction
The faster eviction route, used where the occupier has no title of any kind. Often referred to informally as desahucio express. Faster than the ordinary procedure, but not instant, and it turns on proving the complete absence of any right to be there.
Burofax
Certified legal notice
A certified communication, usually sent through Correos, that provides legal proof of its content, its sender and its delivery. Widely used to give formal notice, demand that a property be vacated, or terminate a contract. In an eviction it is normally the first document a court expects to see.
Courts & process
Abogado
Lawyer
The lawyer who advises you and argues the case. Distinct from the procurador, and in most court proceedings you will need both.
Procurador
Court agent
A court agent who formally represents a party in proceedings, handling filings and service. The role has no direct equivalent in British or American practice, which is why foreign clients are often confused to find they are paying two professionals for one case.
Notario
Notary
A public official who authorises deeds and gives them public faith. A Spanish notary carries far more weight than a British notary public: property transfers, inheritance acceptances and powers of attorney all pass through one.
Poder notarial
Power of attorney
A power of attorney granted before a notary, allowing someone to act legally on another person's behalf. It is what lets foreign clients handle Spanish property, inheritance and court matters without repeatedly travelling. Getting the scope drafted correctly at the outset saves considerable time later.
Denuncia
Formal criminal complaint
A report of a suspected offence made to the police or a court. Filing one fixes a date, creates an official record, and is generally a precondition for anything else in a fraud or occupation case. It costs nothing and is worth doing even where you expect no immediate action.
Apostilla
Apostille
The international certification that makes a document issued in one country acceptable in another. Foreign death certificates, powers of attorney and court documents usually need one before Spain will accept them — and discovering this late costs weeks.
Identity & residence
NIE
Foreigner's identification number
The Número de Identidad de Extranjero, assigned to foreigners in Spain and required for essentially every legal, property and financial transaction. Heirs to a Spanish estate need one before the process can complete, so applying early is worth doing.
Empadronamiento (padrón)
Municipal residence registration
Registration of residence at the local town hall. It helps establish where a person lives and how long they have been there, which makes it relevant in tracing work, in occupation cases and in establishing habitual residence.
CIF / NIF
Tax identification number
The tax identification number of a company or an individual. A Spanish business that will not give you its CIF, or gives one that does not check out against the commercial register, has told you something important.
Investigation
TIP (Tarjeta de Identidad Profesional)
Detective's professional licence
The professional identity card that authorises a private detective to operate legally in Spain, issued under Ley 5/2014 and supervised by the Ministry of the Interior. It is held by a named individual, recorded on a public register, and revocable.
Only a detective holding a TIP may lawfully carry out investigative work here, and only their signed report can be produced as evidence. Ask for the number before you instruct anyone. The detective who signs our reports
Intrusismo profesional
Unlawful practice of a regulated profession
Carrying out work reserved to a licensed profession without holding the licence. An investigator operating in Spain without a TIP commits it, and everything they produce is inadmissible — which is the practical reason it matters to you rather than to them.
Interés legítimo
Legitimate interest
The real, demonstrable reason a person needs the information sought — normally a legal, contractual, family or economic interest. It is a legal requirement rather than a formality: a licensed detective must establish it before accepting an instruction, and evidence gathered without it is unusable and can expose whoever commissioned it. What an investigator can legally do
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These definitions explain Spanish legal vocabulary in general terms for an English-speaking reader. They are not legal advice and are not a substitute for it.