Debt recovery lawyers in Spain
You are owed invoices, the client keeps stalling, and you have now spent more hours chasing payment than doing the work. Our debt recovery lawyers check two things before anything else: what document evidences the debt, because that determines the route and the speed, and whether the debtor has anything to pay with, because winning against an empty company only adds cost. The demand letter then goes out on the firm's letterhead, which is what makes a good share of debtors pay before court is ever reached.
What we handle
You are owed invoices and they have stopped replying
A formal demand signed by a lawyer with a firm deadline and, if it is ignored, a payment order application, which has no cap on the amount and is filed with the invoices, delivery notes and emails.
The debtor has opposed the payment order
Opposition ends the payment order: below 15,000 euros the case continues automatically as a small claim, and above that you have one month to file an ordinary claim or you lose what you claimed (art. 818 of the Civil Procedure Act).
You are holding an unpaid promissory note or cheque
Bill of exchange proceedings demand payment within ten days and order a precautionary attachment of assets with no security and without waiting for judgment, so there is no time to empty the accounts (arts. 819 to 827 of the Civil Procedure Act).
You won the case and still have not been paid
A judgment does not collect itself: enforcement must be applied for twenty days after it becomes final and within five years, because after that the enforcement action lapses and the judgment is just paper (arts. 518 and 548 of the Civil Procedure Act).
The debtor says there is nothing to seize
Court ordered disclosure of assets under penalty, plus judicial investigation of the debtor's estate through the tax authority, social security and public registers, then attachment in the statutory order and respecting the protected portion of wages (arts. 589, 590 and 607 of the Civil Procedure Act).
The company that owes you is an empty shell
We sue the director, who answers personally for debts arising after the ground for dissolution if no shareholders' meeting was called within two months, with a four year window from the date they left office (art. 367 of the Spanish Companies Act).
Your client pays you at 120 days
Between businesses the maximum payment term is sixty days, default interest accrues automatically with no need to claim it, and a further 40 euros in recovery costs is due on every invoice (Act 3/2004 on late payment).
How we work on it
Before we claim anything we check two things: what document evidences the debt and what assets the debtor has. With an invoice and its delivery note the natural route is the payment order; with a promissory note, bill of exchange proceedings, which attach assets from the outset; with a judgment, straight enforcement. The first step is always a demand letter on the firm's letterhead with a firm deadline, because a good share of unpaid debts is collected there, with no litigation. If court is needed, the payment order now requires evidence of a prior attempt to negotiate under Organic Act 1/2025, while bill of exchange and enforcement claims fall outside that requirement, and that also weighs on the choice of route.
Your matter is quoted after the consultation, because every case is different. The consultation fee is credited in full against the engagement if you go ahead.
Frequently asked questions
What if the debtor has no assets?
We look at that before suing, not after. If there are no assets we say so and look at other routes: director liability, action against assets transferred into someone else's name, or simply obtaining the judgment and waiting, because with a judgment in hand attachment can be retried for years.
How long does a payment order take to collect?
If the debtor neither pays nor opposes, enforcement is ordered and assets are attached; the bottleneck is the court's own timetable, not the law. If they do oppose, the matter becomes a full case and takes longer, which is why it pays to know from the start whether their opposition has any real basis.
Do I recover interest and the cost of claiming?
They are always claimed: default interest, which accrues automatically between businesses, the 40 euros per invoice under Act 3/2004, and costs where the court awards them. What we do not do is guarantee an outcome, because that depends on the court and on the debtor's solvency.
How is a debt recovery matter quoted?
After reviewing the paperwork and the outstanding amount, because a demand letter and an enforcement with asset tracing are not the same job. The initial consultation is 100 euros for thirty minutes or 200 euros for one hour and is credited in full against the engagement.
Law firm guides on this area
The dispute explained: what action lies, what deadline is running and what has to be proved.
- Your debtor opposes the monitorio: what to do in one month
- Unpaid promissory note: the cambiario claim seizes assets at once
- I won and they still do not pay: enforcement and five years
- The debtor says he owns nothing: finding assets and seizing them
- The company that owes you is empty: suing its director
- Your debtor put his assets in someone else's name: the pauliana claim
- Your client pays at 120 days: the interest the law owes you