Before we start this section of our web site it may help to understand a little about the principles of the Spanish legal system. By doing so you may well save yourself considerable pain and expense and by understanding how the system works, be able to avoid those situations from which recovery is just not possible. Start by understanding the crucial differences between Roman and Common law and that the philosophy of the Spanish legal system is that you be aware and responsible for the consequences of your own actions.

In some ways, Spanish law is delightfully simple. For instance, if you sign something, no matter what, then you are bound by it. No point exists in claiming at a later stage that it was unfair or you did not understand what it was you signed because you did sign it and in law this means you understood. If you did not understand it or did not know what it was that you were signing then you should not have signed it.

An example which shows how Spanish law expects you to be aware of what you are doing can be illustrated using the cigarette companies as an example. In both the UK and the USA, cigarette companies have been sued for billions of dollars because of the harm done to the health of smokers. In Spain it is not possible to bring such an action because it is reasonably predictable that you are going to damage your health if you smoke and consequently it is down to you to decide whether or not you will. Your health will never be the responsibility of the cigarette companies. When it comes to the Spanish legal system, there is no nanny state, no law to protect you from yourself - you are on your own and responsible for your actions.

The Spanish legal system whilst getting better is nonetheless. Inefficient, slow, constantly rocked by scandals with local courts, judges and lawyers regularly accused of abusing the system to suit their own ends. it is said that anyone with enough knowledge or money can use the law to their own advantage. But there is also a bad side to the Spanish legal system. . . Humour aside, litigation in Spain is possible but best avoided.

Each week there are over 180 legal actions being brought in the Spanish courts for matters concerning property purchase. Some of these actions will take years to finalise and at the end of this time there can be no guarantees. It is said that anyone contemplating litigation in the Spanish courts either has friends in high places or simply does not understand what is involved. Many foreigners resort to litigation when they find the building contract they signed was not that which they had been led to believe it was. More often than not this is not the result of slick footwork on behalf of a builder but simply that what was agreed between the parties had failed to find its way into the contract for reasons of inefficiency. Had a certified translation been asked for the situation would not have arisen.

Don't get involved!

The Spanish legal system is slow. If it were any slower it would go backwards. The courts are jammed with backlogs of thousands of cases some of which will take years before they get to court and many others will not even get to court! Even local courts can take five or six years to hear an action, by which time neither the plaintiff nor defendant can remember what the action is about and further, probably no longer care. There have been numerous cases of plaintiffs going to court with actions, which because of the overwhelming weight of evidence were unbeatable but which they lost because of the incompetence of their lawyer or unfairness of the court system.

How do I find a good lawyer?

We hear this question often and after quite a few years of trying to answer it have concluded that for the average person there is no way for him to know whether the lawyer he has found is good bad or indifferent. With both the culture and law being quite different there is little upon which to draw so as to be able to exercise good judgment. Unfortunately a good number of Spanish lawyers are incompetent, a significant percentage dishonest and a lot relatively inexperienced. There are of course excellent lawyers in Spain but you won't find them too often in the resort areas scrapping for the odd property sale.

In truth, finding a good lawyer is almost certainly going to involve a third party who has this knowledge. More often than not this person is likely to be an estate agent. Providing you have a good one he should certainly be aware of which lawyers to avoid and which lawyers provide a good safe service. Be careful of your fellow ex pats, some believe themselves to be experts on most subjects concerning Spain, even though they may have only been in the country two or three years. A hearty recommendation for an incompetent lawyer just to air knowledge is something you do not need.

There are numerous cases of lawyers becoming confused with their money and that of their clients and whilst this is not simply a Spanish problem, the simple fact of the matter is that doing anything about it is not only difficult but likely to be unsuccessful. When problems arise it is not unusual to find that lawyers eventually become part of the problem rather than the solution.

A very real problem with legal matters in Spain is the time it takes to realise something has gone wrong. A further eternity is then required for lawyers to bring the matter before the court and terribly infuriating is the practice they have in Spain of ignoring correspondence, and not returning telephone calls. If you find yourself in a situation where things are not looking too good don't wait to see how things turn out but seek competent, legal help immediately.

Delay in starting an action can be construed as having a weak case. Another matter which will be alien to most reading this is not getting involved in lengthy correspondence. The Spanish do not argue their case in writing with letters, emails and telephones calls exchanged on a regular basis and bombarding someone with correspondence may cause the belief that your action is weak or malicious. As correspondence from you is is unlikely to achieve anything it is better simply to instruct a lawyer at the first sign of trouble. The court expects this type of behaviour and it will help your case.

Problems