Short Reference on the Notary Public's Service

A notary public is a legal officer who also exercises a public role as he/she provides citizens with the legal safety promised by Spain's Constitution (art. 9) in the area of out-of-court legal traffic. The notary public has undergone specific legal training and is selected through some rigorous competition examinations to guarantee his/her skills.

Spanish notaries are part of the International Union of Latin Notariat, an association which groups almost all the notaries from the European continent, many African countries, the entire Latin-American continent, the Canadian province of Quebec, the State of Louisiana in the United States, Turkey and Japan in Asia, and which is growing fast. It will soon comprise almost one hundred countries, all with a similar Notariat, made up of private practitioners, who have the power to witness and authenticate the documents on which they intervene and who guarantee the safety of transactions to individuals.

When should you see a notary?

Everybody needs once in a while the services of a notary: you want to buy a house, very often with a mortgage; you are getting married and would like to know what the best matrimonial property system is; you have applied for a personal loan; you have agreed to start up a business with friends and create a company; you have to sign a document in another city and cannot go there; there are leaks in your house and you want to claim the costs to the insurance company. And there a thousand other examples like those.

Deaths and subsequent inheritance are also one of the typical action fields of a notary public. Starting with the will, in which one determines who their heirs shoulds be and which has many different casuistics, up to the manner to share the inheritance after death, intestate succession, legacies, etc.

One must know that the notary may help them regarding all those issues and many more which will finally result in an affidavit. Such help may be provided before, at the time of or after the event, and help is always big and cheap, because one does not pay for it. If you go to a notary public and express your will to draft a deed for a flat that you are buying or selling, to grant a power of attorney, to execute a will, to create a company, to contract a marriage settlement (contract on goods belonging to the married couple) or for any type of legal matter related to civil or commercial private contracts, family life or successions due to death, the notary is going to study the case and will give you advice on the most suitable manner of handling the matter, indicating the advantages and disadvantages of each option, as well as its cost.

In Spain, the notary public can be freely selected, except in a few specific legal cases, such as the affidavits of declaration of heirs.

Tariffs are the same for all notaries, as they are fixed by the government through a Royal Decree.

The e-notary project means that the profession must adapt to new technologies.

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