1. Are you seeking a divorce in Spain?
There are many fronts to keep in mind when going through the process of divorce in Spain: this article discusses the main benefits of express divorce in Spain. Keep reading and you may find a quick solution for a clean end of marriage. Starting at €600 + IVA our service saves you as much as 50% or more of the typical cost, but that is not the only advantage.
2. Benefits of Express Divorce Service – Advantages
A major benefit is of course the fact that this service costs approximately half of the standard price but there are several other advantages:
Simplicity – using this service means that you can start the divorce process by simply filling-in and returning a form that is written in English for your ease of use.
Language – Our lawyers speak English and can assist you with explanations of any process as required.
Speed – What’s more, our process is quick, with a divorce agreement available within days of the initial form being transmitted to our office.
Direct – You can avoid the effort and expense of finding and travelling to see a suitable lawyer located in your region. We are available over the phone as required.
Support – The fact that the service is provided without the need to call into lawyers’ offices does not mean that you receive less assistance. You will have continuous access to English-speaking lawyers who can answer any concerns you have.
Meticulous – By using lawyers and procuradores who have a lot of experience dealing with the local family law courts, our clients can be assured of a highly competent and efficient service.
Regardless of your particular circumstances your situation will be managed swiftly and with little fuss. If you have any doubt or query about the process or the ramifications of choosing one or other option your questions will be answered by a registered, regulated family lawyer. These answers are, of course, provided free of charge.
3. How does this Service work?
The service is designed to be straightforward and easy to understand. It works as follows:
- Download the application form on this page and simply fill-in and email it back to us.
- Our lawyers will use the information you provide on the form to create a divorce agreement, in Spanish and translated in to English.
- You then receive the draft divorce agreement and confirm that it accurately represents the agreement between the spouses.
- Upon payment of our fee the divorce agreement is passed to the local procurador who will submit it to the relevant court together with other required documents.
- Both spouses then ratify the divorce agreement.
This really is a simple process made even easier by having all the forms prepared in English as well as advice available from English-speaking lawyers.
4. Are there any restrictions?
No. The spouses simply need to be in agreement to both getting a divorce and the terms of the divorce. An application form is used to guide you to agree each of the necessary terms.
5. What if there are children of the marriage?
A section of the application form is dedicated to dealing with any children of the marriage and is designed to manage their custody, future financial needs as well as visitation rights. Once included in the divorce agreement and approved by the judge, the terms of the agreement become enforceable.
6. What about the marital home?
Once again, a section of the form is dedicated to dealing with resolving the future use, enjoyment and ownership of any marital assets including the marital home.
Often divorcing spouses request that their half of the property is transferred to the other in order to avoid property transfer tax which can cost up to 8% of the value of the interest being transferred. Some people are happy to transfer their interest in the property for free in order to avoid future mortgage liabilities.
However, this may well have important income tax implications for the person receiving the interest and will requires the agreement to be drafted carefully in order to minimise or avoid.
7. Where is this service available?
The service is available across Spain and the islands and indeed worldwide, though one of the spouses should be resident in Spain.
8. If living outside Spain, must I return to arrange the Divorce?
No. Ratification of the divorce agreement before the judge normally requires the presence of both spouses. However, ratification may be carried-out by executing a power of attorney so that the procurador may ratify the agreement in court on your behalf.
One of the benefits of this service is that you can manage the preliminary matters via email and post In this way you can avoid the necessity of travelling to Spain to ratify the divorce.
9. Can we use this service if we are NOT Spanish nationals?
As long as at least one of the spouses is currently resident in Spain and the last matrimonial home was in Spain, then the Advocate Abroad reduced cost divorce service can be used. If the marriage took place outside Spain it will be necessary to arrange a legalised and translated marriage certificate and, if there are any children, legalised birth certificates too.
10. Is the application form complicated?
Not at all. The form simply consists of a number of sections that allow you to provide us with details necessary to complete the divorce agreement and divorce petition. There are extensive explanatory notes contained in the form that explain exactly the information that you need to include as well as where you can find that information where necessary and also the email address to send it to once completed. The form is provided in word format to make it easy to complete and return by email. You can download it here.
11. Payment Process
The cost of this service starts at €600 + IVA. This covers the costs of a bilingual Spanish lawyer assisting clients with arranging all the necessary documentation and drafting a Divorce Agreement in both Spanish and English, and submitting all papers to the Procurador.
The Procurador is a separate, independent legal representative that you are required by law to use. Advocate Abroad can arrange the services of a Procurador on your behalf, having established relationships with Procuradores across Spain, most of whom speak a high level of English. The fees charged by a Procurador are not included in the Advocate Abroad fee as they are determined by each Procurador individually. Typically their fees range from around 100 € (the majority) to 200 € (in some locations). I
f you need to include any formal distribution of the matrimonial assets the service is available at an additional cost of: €100 + IVA. Please note that changes to the property registry necessary to reflect ownership changes will incur a government charge.
We can also include the arrangements to be made in respect of any children of the marriage, again at an additional cost of €100. A non-refundable deposit of 50% of the total cost is payable at the beginning of the process before the lawyers draft the divorce agreement.
12. How to Start The Process
You can contact our English-speaking support team to request the form to initiate the process, or simply download the application form directly from this web page.
If you believe that you will not be able to reach agreement on the terms of the divorce and will need to pursue a contentious route to divorce, please see more details of our contentious divorce service.
