Law firm guidesDebt recovery

I won and they still do not pay: enforcement and five years

Last updated 2026-09-01 · Reviewed by Jaime Piñeira Pardo, registered with the ICAM bar, no. 138826

The short answer

A final judgment ordering payment is an enforceable title, but it does not collect by itself. An enforcement claim must be filed, and not before twenty days have run from the judgment becoming final. Article 518 sets the limit at the other end: the enforcement action lapses if that claim is not filed within the five years following finality. After that, the title is only paper.

You won the case four years ago. You were awarded eighteen thousand euros plus costs. The debtor called, said his cash flow was tight, that he would pay as soon as a building certificate was paid to him, and you agreed to wait because you had a judgment and assumed paper does not expire. You have called every six months since. Now you learn that the man has sold two commercial units this year. And that the enforcement clock has been running for four years without anyone telling you.

The case, in five lines

What is brought: Enforcement claim founded on a title carrying enforceability, seeking an enforcement order for principal, interest and costs.
Before which court: The Civil section of the Tribunal de Instancia (the first-instance court), which handles enforcement of its own decisions and of other civil enforceable titles.
Deadline: No enforcement is ordered within the twenty days following the decision becoming final. And the enforcement action lapses if the claim is not filed within the five years following that finality.
Who can bring it: Whoever appears as creditor in the enforceable title, and whoever proves having succeeded to the claim by inheritance, merger or documented assignment.
Financial risk: Enforcement has a cost and guarantees nothing: if no assets appear, the matter stays open and you will have advanced expenses. The debtor may also oppose enforcement and dispute the sums claimed for interest and costs.

Winning the case and getting paid are two different matters

Article 517.1 of the Civil Procedure Act says the enforcement action must be founded on a title carrying enforceability, and its paragraph 2.1 puts a final judgment ordering payment first on the list. That is exactly what you hold: a title. But a title does not freeze accounts, does not register anything at the Land Registry and does not withhold wages. All of that is done by enforcement, and enforcement has to be applied for.

The commonest mistake is not procedural, it is about expectations. Many creditors believe the court will pursue the matter of its own motion until they are paid, when in truth civil enforcement moves at the request of a party and advances at whatever pace the creditor sets. If nobody asks, nobody seizes. Meanwhile the debtor who lost the case has all the time in the world to reorganise what stands in his name.

The twenty day wait belongs to you, not to the debtor

Article 548 prevents enforcement of judicial or arbitral decisions, or of mediation agreements, being ordered within the twenty days following the day the decision ordering payment became final, or the day the decision approving the settlement or signing the agreement was served on the debtor. It is a statutory courtesy for voluntary compliance, and in practice very few debtors use it to pay.

The useful reading is the opposite one: those twenty days are the best moment to work. While they run we trace accounts, vehicles, property and claims against third parties, calculate the principal with the interest already accrued and draft the enforcement claim ready to file on day twenty one. A creditor who arrives on the twenty first day with the claim drafted and the assets identified seizes weeks earlier than one who only starts thinking about it then.

The five years of article 518 lapse with no warning to anyone

Article 518 is the provision that ruins most cases already won. The enforcement action founded on a judgment, on a decision of the court or of the court clerk approving a court settlement or an agreement reached in the case, on an arbitral award or on a mediation agreement, lapses if the corresponding enforcement claim is not filed within the five years following the finality of that judgment or decision.

Lapse is not limitation: it is not interrupted by calling the debtor, nor by sending him a recorded delivery letter, nor by conversations in which he promises to pay next month. The only step that counts is filing the enforcement claim. So when a debtor proposes an informal payment schedule, the prudent course is to formalise it in a way that does not eat up the period, or simply to seek enforcement and work inside it.

There are eight more titles that enforce just like a judgment

Article 517.2 lists what carries enforceability, and the list is wider than people assume. It includes arbitral awards and mediation agreements raised to a public deed, as well as agreements reached through other appropriate dispute resolution means that have likewise been raised to a deed. It includes judicial decisions approving or endorsing settlements and agreements reached during the case.

And it includes, without ever entering a courtroom, the copy of the original public deed issued as such at the party's request, the notarial certified copy of the original of a policy kept in the notary's register or its authorised copy with the certificate of article 572.2, bearer or registered instruments representing matured obligations, uncancelled certificates of securities held in book entry form, and the order setting the maximum sum under compulsory motor insurance.

Once enforcement starts, the case is won by finding assets

Article 589 allows the debtor to be required to list assets and rights sufficient to cover the amount being enforced, stating charges and encumbrances and, for real property, whether it is occupied, by whom and under what title. The requirement is made with a warning of the penalties that may be imposed on him, at the very least for serious disobedience, if he conceals assets or fails to disclose charges.

And article 590 allows a creditor unable to identify sufficient assets to ask that requests be sent to financial institutions, public bodies, public registers and the individuals or companies he names, so they disclose the debtor's assets or rights of which they are aware. He must briefly explain why he believes each of them holds that information, and no data will be sought that the creditor could obtain himself.

How we run the case, step by step

1
Check finality and the exact day it happened
We verify that the decision is final and fix that date, because both periods hang from it: the twenty days during which enforcement cannot be ordered and the five years within which the enforcement action lapses.
2
Calculate principal, interest and costs precisely
The enforcement claim must seek a specific sum. Interest is calculated from the date set in the title, the assessment of costs is added if already approved, and the statutory allowance for the interest and costs of the enforcement itself is included.
3
Investigate the estate before filing the claim
We search the accessible registers and prepare the request for judicial investigation of whatever is not accessible. Arriving with specific assets identified avoids months of empty enforcement and lets the seizure be levied in the first weeks.
4
File the enforcement claim and request seizure
The claim is filed with the title and specific measures are requested: seizure of account balances, retention of tax refunds, a precautionary entry over real property and withholding of the attachable part of the debtor's salary.
5
Keep the enforcement alive until payment in full
If no assets appear, the enforcement is not abandoned: searches are repeated periodically, because an inheritance, a tax refund or a new job for the debtor can turn a stalled matter into an actual recovery.

The evidence that decides the case

The certified copy of the judgment with the declaration of finality and its date.
The decision approving the assessment of costs, if it has already been carried out.
An up to date Land Registry search on the property in the debtor's name and its charges.
The employment history report or the identification of whoever pays the debtor's salary.
Invoices or contracts showing that third parties owe money to the debtor, which can be seized.
The assignment document or deed of inheritance proving that you succeeded the original creditor.

What closes the door

Relying on the debtor's promise to pay for years. The five years of article 518 are a lapse period and are not interrupted by conversations or by recorded delivery letters.
Seeking enforcement without identifying assets or requesting an asset search. The enforcement exists on paper, reaches nothing and is closed without any recovery.
Accepting part payments without recording what they are applied to. Later there is an argument over whether they covered principal, interest or costs, and the sum claimed wobbles.
Writing the matter off when the debtor appears to have nothing. Enforcement can be revived when his situation changes, provided the claim was filed in time.

The law that applies

Art. 517 LEC. It requires the enforcement action to be founded on a title carrying enforceability and lists which ones do: a final judgment ordering payment, arbitral awards and mediation agreements raised to a deed, decisions endorsing settlements, the copy of the original public deed, the notarial copy of a policy, matured bearer or registered instruments, book entry securities certificates, and the compulsory motor insurance order. BOE-A-2000-323
Art. 548 LEC. It imposes a waiting period: no enforcement of judicial or arbitral decisions, or of mediation agreements, will be ordered within the twenty days following the day the decision ordering payment became final, or the day the decision approving the settlement or signing the agreement was served on the debtor. BOE-A-2000-323
Art. 518 LEC. It sets the lapse of the enforcement action founded on a judgment, on a decision approving a court settlement or an agreement reached in the case, on an arbitral award or on a mediation agreement: it lapses if the corresponding enforcement claim is not filed within the five years following finality of that judgment or decision. BOE-A-2000-323
Art. 590 LEC. It allows a creditor unable to identify sufficient assets to request that formal enquiries be sent to financial institutions, public bodies, public registers and the individuals or companies he names, so they disclose the debtor's assets or rights. He must state why he believes they hold that information, and no data will be sought that the creditor could obtain himself. BOE-A-2000-323

Each article checked against the consolidated text published in the BOE (the Spanish official gazette).

Frequently asked questions

My judgment is six years old. Can I still do anything?

The enforcement action founded on that judgment will have lapsed if no enforcement claim was filed within the five years following finality. Two things are worth checking before writing it off: exactly when the decision became final, which is not always its own date, and whether an enforcement claim was filed at some point, even if the matter later stalled for lack of assets.

Can I seek enforcement the day after the judgment?

No. Article 548 prohibits enforcement being ordered within the twenty days following the day the decision ordering payment became final. That period is used to prepare: calculating interest, checking registers and deciding which specific assets the seizure will target. The claim can be drafted in advance and filed as soon as the waiting period ends.

The debtor says he has nothing. Is enforcement worth it?

Almost always, for two reasons. First, what the debtor says and what article 590 allows you to find out rarely match: there are tax refunds, balances, vehicles and claims against third parties that go undeclared. Second, a claim filed in time avoids the five year lapse and keeps the matter alive for when his situation changes.

We reached a settlement during the case. Does that enforce the same way?

Yes. Article 517.2.3 includes among enforceable titles the judicial decisions approving or endorsing court settlements and agreements reached in the case, accompanied where necessary by a certified record of the proceedings. And article 518 applies the same five year lapse to those decisions, counted from finality. An endorsed settlement not enforced in time is lost just like a judgment.

Can I also recover interest and costs?

The enforcement claim is filed for the principal and for the sums for interest and costs recognised in the title, and the enforcement itself also generates its own interest and costs. That is why the initial calculation matters so much: a badly worked out figure invites the debtor to dispute the amount and to delay the matter for months arguing arithmetic instead of paying.

This guide explains how the action works in general. It does not replace the study of your own case: deadlines depend on when things happened and on what you have done since.