Changing your name or surnames and other Registro Civil entries

The Registro Civil is the public record that holds the facts and acts of a person's civil status: birth, first name and surnames, marriage, death, nationality, parentage and guardianship. It is governed by Ley 20/2011, de 21 de julio, del Registro Civil (the Spanish Civil Registry Act of 21 July 2011).

On that basis, changes and entries can be made: changing your first name, changing or swapping the order of your surnames, registering a marriage, registering a death or correcting data. Registro Civil actions are free of charge: the Ministerio de Justicia (the Spanish Ministry of Justice) warns that no tasa (official fee) is charged for them.

Alongside these procedures, many people who have obtained Spanish nationality also need the certificado de concordancia, the concordance certificate. This document is not issued by the Registro Civil but by the Dirección General de la Policía (the Spanish national police directorate), and it serves to prove that the former NIE and the new DNI (the Spanish national ID card) and passport refer to the same person.

A change of first name is authorised by the Encargado del Registro Civil (the civil registrar) through a registry procedure, once habitual use of the new name has been shown (article 52 of Ley 20/2011).

A change of surnames has two routes. By declaration of intent (article 53) you can swap the order of your surnames, put the preposition de in front, join two surnames with the conjunction y or i, or adapt the spelling to an official language. By expediente, a formal registry file (article 54), it is authorised when the surname applied for is already a de facto situation through habitual use and legitimately belongs to you.

An adult may apply, and from the age of 16 the person may do so themselves (article 57.3 of Ley 20/2011); for minors their legal representatives act, hearing the minor where they have sufficient maturity and, in any event, if they are over 12. The change is constitutive from the moment it is registered and is noted in the margin of the birth entry.

In gender violence cases, Ley 20/2011 allows a change of surnames and even a full change of identity on safety grounds, with restricted publicity so the victim is not easier to locate. Managora prepares this file with the discretion the situation demands.

For a marriage, Ley 20/2011 requires prior processing (an expediente or acta, a registry file or record) before the Registro Civil, a notario (Spanish notary), a justice of the peace or the mayor, where capacity and the absence of impediments are checked. After a favourable decision, the marriage is celebrated and the record is sent electronically to the Registro Civil, which enters the registration.

A death is registered at the Registro Civil for the place where it occurred. Those under a duty to promote the registration must report the death as soon as possible (article 65 of Ley 20/2011), and it cannot be registered without the medical death certificate. In practice, the funeral home usually handles the registration on the family's behalf.

Once the entry has been made, the Registro Civil issues the burial or cremation licence within the time and in the form set by the regulations (article 62 of Ley 20/2011). The minimum of 24 hours from death before burial does not come from the Civil Registry Act but from mortuary health rules (state and regional), except in urgent cases or on health grounds. If there are signs of a violent death, the licence depends on judicial authorisation.

The certificado de concordancia is the document that proves that the person who now holds a DNI and a Spanish name is the same one who previously appeared as a foreigner with a NIE and a residence card. It links the earlier record (banks, Seguridad Social (Spain's social security system), Agencia Tributaria (Hacienda, the Spanish tax authority), DGT (the Spanish traffic authority), universities, registers) with the new identity so that no procedure is left stranded.

It is issued by the Dirección General de la Policía, not by the Registro Civil. You apply in person at a Policía Nacional station with a booked appointment, after paying the corresponding tasa (modelo 790, código 012).

It is particularly useful after swearing nationality, when you already hold your DNI but still have procedures open under your old NIE. Managora gathers the documents, arranges the appointment and accompanies you through the process.

Registro Civil procedures (change of first name and surnames, registration of a marriage and of a death) are free of charge. Only the concordance certificate carries a tasa, the one under modelo 790 código 012 of the Policía Nacional.

Timescales vary from office to office. A death is registered immediately, on the same day the complete documentation is filed. The marriage file can take from weeks to several months. A change of surnames by declaration of intent is quicker than a change by expediente, which requires a formal processing stage.

The exact amount Managora charges to prepare and file each procedure appears on its service page: you can see the current amount on the page for a change of name and surnames, for registering a marriage, for registering a death or for the concordance certificate.