Jura de cuentas: how a lawyer or procurador collects unpaid fees

The jura de cuentas is the special and summary procedure of articles 34 and 35 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (the Spanish Civil Procedure Act) that allows a procurador and a lawyer to claim from their own client the amounts accrued in a specific lawsuit. Article 34 protects the procurador, who presents a detailed and justified account of their rights and the expenses they paid as a suplido (advance payment); article 35 protects the lawyer, who presents a detailed bill and formally states that these fees are owed and have not been paid. The name comes from this formal statement: the account is sworn (jurada).

It is submitted to the Letrado de la Administración de Justicia (LAJ) of the court that heard the case, in practice via LexNET. It does not require a lawsuit, it does not accrue a tasa judicial, it does not require a prior negotiation attempt (MASC) and the law itself states that the intervention of a lawyer or procurador is not mandatory to process it. The professional's heirs can also use it regarding these credits.

Its strength lies at the end: if the client, upon being required to pay, neither pays nor challenges it within 10 days, execution is dispatched directly for the amount of the account or bill, without going through a declaratory trial.

Only the amounts accrued in the judicial process in which you acted are eligible: tariff rights and suplidos of the procurador, and defence fees of the lawyer. The bill or account must be broken down by concepts, with the date and amount of each action, because the payment demand is issued on it exactly as presented.

Extrajudicial work is left out: consultations, reports, negotiations or advice prior to the lawsuit. Administrative doctrine summarises it clearly: only fees accrued in the lawsuit are claimed this way, not concepts accrued extrajudicially (consultations of the Directorate General for Taxes V1027-07 and V4153-15, which also confirm that the billed services remain subject to VAT). For those other debts, the route is the monitorio (order for payment procedure) or the declaratory trial.

If there is an engagement letter or fee agreement, it is advisable to attach it: a prior budget accepted in writing avoids the assessment if the client challenges them as excessive. And if the client is a natural person, providing the contract is directly mandatory since 20 March 2024.

Once the claim is submitted and admitted, the LAJ requires the client to pay or challenge it within 10 days. Silence has a price: without payment or challenge, execution is dispatched for the total of the account or bill.

The challenge for undue amounts disputes that the amount is owed (actions already paid, not commissioned or not performed). The LAJ notifies the professional for 3 days, examines the account, the procedural actions and the documentation, and issues a decree within 10 days fixing the amount, with enforcement if it is not paid within the 5 days following notification. The account of the procurador can only be challenged as undue: their rights are fixed by tariff.

The challenge for excessive amounts, typical of lawyer fees, disputes the amount. The LAJ notifies the lawyer for 5 days; if they do not accept the reduction, the regulation of articles 241 and following of the LEC opens, with a report from the Bar Association (article 246), unless there is a prior budget in writing accepted by the challenger. Afterwards, a decree is issued fixing the amount owed.

A direct appeal for review before the judge can be filed against the decree, a guarantee opened by STC 34/2019 when it annulled its former unappealability. Neither the decree nor the order resolving the review produce res judicata: either party can later go to a declaratory trial.

The Court of Justice of the EU (judgment of 22 September 2022, case C-335/21) declared that Directive 93/13 precludes a jura de cuentas in which no judge can review ex officio whether the clauses of the fee contract are abusive. In the same ruling, it warned that a clause penalising the client for withdrawing from the lawsuit by referring to the Bar Association's scale, not mentioned in the offer or in the prior information, may constitute a misleading commercial practice.

Real Decreto-ley 6/2023 incorporated this control into the LEC with effect from 20 March 2024: if the claim is directed against a natural person, the professional must provide the contract signed with the client and, before issuing the demand, the LAJ reports to the judge, who examines ex officio the possible abusiveness. If they find indications, they hear the parties for 5 days and resolve by order within the following 5 days: they can declare the claim inadmissible or continue the procedure without applying the abusive clauses. That order is directly appealable and, once final, produces res judicata.

In practice: review your engagement letter before claiming against a consumer. Penalties for withdrawal, references to scales or amounts not informed before signing can bring down the entire claim. Managora reviews the engagement along with the bill when preparing the document.

For extrajudicial fees or engagements that did not reach a lawsuit, the natural route is the juicio monitorio (articles 812 and following of the LEC): the bill or invoice and the engagement letter are attached, the court of the debtor's domicile requires them to pay within 20 days and, if they remain silent, execution is dispatched. If they oppose, the matter is decided in a verbal trial (up to €15,000) or an ordinary trial.

Regarding entry costs, the monitorio does not accrue a tasa judicial for natural persons, who are exempt in any case; a legal entity is also exempt when the amount claimed by monitorio does not exceed €2,000 (article 4.1.a of Ley 10/2012), and only above that threshold can the tasa be accrued. The jura de cuentas, on the other hand, does not accrue a tasa in any case.

You can also go directly to the declaratory trial, or do so after a jura de cuentas with an unsatisfactory result, because the decree does not produce res judicata. Keep in mind that since 3 April 2025, Ley Orgánica 1/2025 requires proving the attempt of an adequate means of dispute resolution (MASC) before the civil declaratory lawsuit. Whether the monitorio is subject to this requirement or not is currently an open question: article 5 of Ley Orgánica 1/2025 neither includes it nor expressly excludes it (unlike the European order for payment procedure), and courts have been resolving in opposite directions, with Boards of Judges that require it and others that do not. It is advisable to check the criteria of the specific judicial district before submitting. The jura de cuentas, for its part, does not require a MASC.

Managora drafts the complete document for you: the detailed and sworn account of the procurador or the detailed and sworn bill of the lawyer, with the breakdown by concepts that the LAJ needs to admit it, the formal statement that the debt is unpaid and the request for a demand. When the debtor is a natural person, we also review the engagement letter to anticipate the judicial control of abusiveness.

You only provide the bill or account with its concepts, the fee agreement if it exists, your DNI/NIF (Spanish ID/tax number) and your professional association card, and you receive the document ready to submit via LexNET in the court that heard the lawsuit. You can see the updated amount of the service in the jura de cuentas procedure file. And if your case does not fit this route, Managora prepares the monitorio trial request for you.