How are you notified of an order for payment procedure (“proceso monitorio”)?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

The court notifies you of the order for payment procedure by means of a demand for payment, which is handed to you in person, normally at your home, together with a copy of the claim against you and of the creditor's documents. From the following day, you have twenty working days to pay or to object. If you are not in, it can be left with someone in your household over the age of fourteen or with the caretaker. The notification is just as valid. Except where an owners' association (“comunidad de propietarios”) is claiming, the order for payment procedure does not allow notice by publication (“edictos”), that is, by an official announcement, so if you cannot be found, the order for payment procedure comes to an end. How it is delivered In the case of an individual, the “Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil”, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, requires the demand to be handed over in person and a record of its delivery to be kept. It is delivered by a court official or, if the creditor has asked for this, by the creditor's court agent (“procurador”), the professional who represents the parties before the courts. It is delivered to the address given by the creditor, which may be your home or your usual place of work. The law also provides for what happens in the following cases: If you are not in, it can be handed over in a sealed envelope to a relative, an employee or another person who lives with you, provided that they are over the age of fourteen, or to the caretaker. Whoever receives it is obliged to give it to you or to let you know. The time limit runs from that delivery. If you refuse to accept it or to sign, you are warned that it remains available to you at the court and the notification takes full effect. If you no longer live there and your current address is found, delivery is attempted at the new address. In the case of a company, the court can first send it electronically. If the company does not access the communication within three days, it is delivered to the company's address. If you cannot be found Before concluding that it is impossible, the court tries to find out where you live by consulting public registers and bodies. If it does not succeed, or it turns out that a different court has jurisdiction because of where you live, the judge brings the order for payment procedure to an end. The creditor can apply again to the appropriate court or bring a claim against you in court proceedings. In those proceedings, you can be notified by publication and the case can go ahead without you. That is why avoiding notification does not make the debt disappear and may end up costing you more. The exception is debts owed to the owners' association. The demand is notified at the address the owner has designated for the association's affairs or, if none was designated, at the flat or commercial premises. If that is not possible either, the owner is notified by publication and the order for payment procedure goes ahead. If you were notified incorrectly If the demand was not delivered as the law requires and you therefore never learned of it, for example because it was left at an address where you no longer lived, the notification is void. You can ask for it to be annulled and for the demand to be made again, with a new time limit to pay or to object. You must raise this in the first document you file with the court, because if you take part in the proceedings without mentioning it, the notification is treated as valid from that moment. That is why it is advisable to consult a lawyer as soon as you find out.