Help please - Notice headed ´Cédula´received from local court.

Yesterday we received through the normal post - not certificado - a notice headed ´Cédula' from the Servicio Común de Notificaciones y Embargos de Alzira.  The relevant part of this says that we should attend tomorrow al objecto de comunicarle un asunto de su interés y con el apercibiminento de que si no lo verifica le parará el perjuicio a que haya lugar en derecho a no ser que alegue causa justa.  Spanish neighbours tell us that this means that someone has entered a complaint about us - for an insult, or a debt, or an accident or whatever and this office is going to hand us the complaint.  We have absolutely no idea as to what this complaint could be about and the neighbours have told us effectively to bin the letter as it has no legal worth as it was neither a Burofax nor a notification which needed a signature.  As strangers to the Spanish legal system, we are not really comfortable with this advice and would like to know if we are, in fact, safe to deny all knowledge of the matter until such time as we receive a more formal notification. We are concerned that should this complaint be in respect of a debt of which we are unaware, for instance, can the complainant proceed with the case in our absence and then place some sort of embargo on our property.  This is really worrying for us as it is our first personal encounter with the law in either the UK or Spain.

Many thanks.

Newbie

This sounds like someone has done a "denuncia" on you.  BUT, normally (and not strictly speaking from experience ) these would come through the post as recorded delivery.

I think your Spanish friends have probably given you the right advice but what I would do is take it down to the local police station and check with them if it is a real complaint and exactly what you should do.  I always check everything with the local police!

Hope that helps.

Justin