How long does it take for an order for payment procedure (“proceso monitorio”) to be resolved?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

There is no fixed timescale, because it depends on the court's workload, on how hard it is to locate the debtor and on whether the debtor objects. The law gives the debtor twenty working days from receipt of the court's demand to pay or object, but it does not set how long the court may take over each step. If the debtor pays or does nothing, the order for payment procedure ends shortly afterwards and, if the court is up to date, everything can be resolved within a few months. If the debtor objects, it turns into court proceedings and takes as long as those proceedings take. The stages and their time limits The order for payment procedure, which is designed for recovering money debts that are documented, involves few steps. In order, they are as follows: The court reviews the application and the documents. If the debt arises from a contract with a consumer, the judge first checks whether any term is unfair. The law sets no time limit for this step, which is the one that varies most from one court to another. The court notifies the debtor of the demand for payment, which is the order to pay or to explain why the money is not owed. If the debtor cannot be found at the address given, the court looks for other addresses, which can prolong the matter considerably. The debtor has twenty working days to pay or object. Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, the month of August and the days from 24 December to 6 January do not count. If the debtor pays, the case is closed. If the debtor neither pays nor objects, the court clerk (“letrado de la Administración de Justicia”), the official who runs the court office, brings the order for payment procedure to an end and the creditor can immediately apply for enforcement, which is the procedure for attaching the debtor's assets. If the debtor objects If the debtor objects, the order for payment procedure is no longer a quick formality and turns into court proceedings. The route depends on the amount: If 15.000 euros or less is claimed, it continues as a “juicio verbal” (the simplified procedure) without the need for a new claim. The creditor has ten days to reply in writing to the objection and the proceedings then take their course. If more is claimed, the creditor generally has one month to file a claim in ordinary proceedings (“juicio ordinario”), which take longer. In both cases, how long it takes depends on the court, as in any other lawsuit. The time spent on the order for payment procedure is not entirely wasted, because the debtor has already had to explain in the objection why they are not paying. What makes it take longer There are delays the creditor can avoid by paying attention to these points: Giving all the addresses the creditor knows for the debtor. If the court cannot locate the debtor, it brings the order for payment procedure to an end and the creditor has to start again. Claiming only what the documents prove. If the judge considers that the amount is not correct, the judge proposes a lower one and the creditor has ten days to reply. Making the prior attempt to reach an agreement and providing proof of it. The law generally requires an attempt to reach an agreement before suing. If the court finds that this proof is missing, it will ask for it to be provided and the matter will be delayed. If the attempt was not made before the application was filed, the court may refuse to admit the application and the creditor will have to start again. That prior attempt also takes time. If the debtor does not reply, the creditor has to wait thirty days from when the debtor receives it before filing the order for payment application.