How long does an appeal to Spain's Supreme Court take?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

There is no fixed period. The law sets short procedural steps, but the Civil Chamber of the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, has a large backlog of cases. According to the court's governing board (“Sala de Gobierno”), at the end of 2025 it had some 25.000 appeals pending, whereas before the pandemic there were fewer than 6.000. With that workload, the prudent course is to expect the appeal to take more than a year from filing and, in many cases, considerably longer. The stages of the appeal The cassation appeal, by which the Supreme Court is asked to review the judgment of the “Audiencia Provincial”, the provincial appeal court, goes through these stages: It is filed with the provincial appeal court that gave the judgment, within twenty working days of its notification. The provincial appeal court sends it to the Supreme Court. A section of the Supreme Court dedicated to admissions checks whether the appeal meets the requirements and whether it has cassation interest (“interés casacional”), that is, whether it raises an issue on which the Supreme Court needs to establish or maintain a position. If the appeal does not meet them, the court does not admit it and never considers the merits. The provincial appeal court's judgment then becomes final. If it is admitted, the other party can oppose it in writing. There is a hearing only if the Chamber considers it appropriate. The Chamber deliberates and votes. The law gives it twenty days from the deliberation to deliver judgment. What makes the appeal take so long is not those steps but the time that passes until the Chamber can consider it, first to decide whether to admit it and then to decide the appeal itself. How long it takes in practice The First Chamber (“Sala Primera”), which is the Civil Chamber, has for years been receiving more than 10.000 cases a year. According to the “Consejo General del Poder Judicial”, Spain's General Council of the Judiciary, on 30 September 2024 it had nearly 24.000 pending. At the end of 2025 there were some 25.000, according to the Supreme Court's own governing board, which asked for more judicial assistants and two more judges. In 2026 the Chamber has begun to reduce that backlog. According to the figures in a study published in October 2026, on 30 September there were 23.806 cases pending, after a quarter in which it decided more than twice as many cases as came in. Nearly 60 % of the appeals come from mass litigation, such as the litigation over clauses in consumer contracts. With those figures, it is not realistic to expect a decision within a few months. The prudent course is to allow for more than a year and, in many cases, considerably longer. In the meantime, the parties can reach an agreement. The appellant can withdraw the appeal, although only until the date for deliberation is set. If the Catalan court decides it If the judgment comes from a provincial appeal court in Catalonia and the cassation appeal is based on Catalan civil law, even if it also relies on other rules, it is decided not by the Supreme Court but by the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the “Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña”, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. The steps are the same, but the backlog figures given above are those of the Supreme Court and not of this court.