Small claims Procedure (SCP) in Spain. " Monitorios"

Small claims procedure (SCP) in Spain. "Monitorios"

SCP ( Small Claim Procedure) is a special judicial procedure for claims adding up to 30.050,61 €.  The debt needs to be documented. 

The document: can be of any sort, form or physical support . It needs to be signed by the debtor, stamped by him, or just marked by any physical or electronic signal.

 Bills, invoices, reception statements, certificates... are also allowed. They just need to prove a commercial relationship between debtor and creditor. 

A lawyer and a Procurator of Tribunals are just needed if the debtor opposes the payment of the debt and/or the claimed amount adds more than 901,52 €.

How is the procedure? 

1.- Initial petition  to the First Instance Judge. Lawyer and Procurator of Tribunals are not required here ( but advisable). The petition needs to contain indications of debtor´s personal data and address, origin and amount of the debt and document which proves the claim.

2.- Courts notify the claim to debtor for a voluntary payment within 20 days. The debtor can also oposse the debt within those 20 days, giving enough legal reasons for the opossition to the payment.

3.- The debtor can choose between:

   a) Doing nothing. Not pay nor oppose the debt. The Judge will order execution of the debt against debtor´s assets.

   b)  Pay the debt

   c) Oppose the debt, with the intervention of a lawyer and a Procurator of Tribunals.

The judge will convoke the parties for a Court Hearing.

Hope this helps!

I cannot give to you fixed prices or timescales as we have freedom of feeing ( The Bar Association stablishes minimums that lawyer can raise) and it is always risky to give timeframes when a Court is involved. I am very sorry about that,

Is there a time limit on this afternon payment of fees due?  Is proof of prior payment from one business to another sufficient?  Is an e-mail or more than one e-mail sufficient evidence? 

What happens if the debtor decides to take the case all the way to the Court?  What are the likely fees in Small claims process?  Is there a maximum?

Jewel:

Please find answers below in bold green:

Is there a time limit on this afternon payment of fees due?  15 years. Is proof of prior payment from one business to another sufficient? Do not understand the question . Could you retry?  Is an e-mail or more than one e-mail sufficient evidence?  To prove you have paid? 

What happens if the debtor decides to take the case all the way to the Court?  What are the likely fees in Small claims process?  Generally of 10% of amount claimed, roughly.  Is there a maximum? Maximum of fees in Courts?

THank you for responding. Sorry if I wasn´t clear.

I have not been pàid a significant amount of money.  THe person who owes it to me says as there was no written contract I cannot take action against him.  He closed the SL and opened another one, but then did the same with the new SL and has now re-opened the old SL, the one that owes me money (its over 30000 euros but I would settle for anything!).  Certainly I can prove 30000 euros due to me as it is written on paper, via e-mail and a monies due sheet he sent.  There is lots of evidence on e-mail referring to amount he will pay etc but no contract (only because this individual would not sign one and unforutnately it was after I started working with him).  I was never a contracted employee.

Some money was paid over to me by bank transfer so does that prove an existing commerncial connection/relationship? I also have e-mails where he says he cannot pay any more as the SL has insufficient funds, but then he started trading with it again a few months later.  This man has no ethics at all so I don´t know if it is worth pursuing him?.

Is 10% the maximum possible Court/legal fees?

If he wrote the correspondence personally can I take action against him personally (I know he still has two houses and owns some land but don´t know if they are all in his name, I suspect not as he has done the dirty on a lot of people).