Cross-border · Certificates of foreign law · Spain
Certificate of English law, for use in Spain
Produced in-house, in Spanish, ready to file — and the mirror certificate of Spanish law for the England & Wales Probate Registry.
The moment it happens
A Spanish notario is preparing the escritura de aceptación y adjudicación de herencia and stops: the deceased left an English will (or none), and the notario needs formal proof of English law — the will’s validity, who inherits under it, or the English intestacy rules. Until that proof arrives, nothing is signed. That is what this certificate is.
What the Spanish side expects. A written certificate of English law, in Spanish, signed by a lawyer qualified in English law — covering the will’s formal validity, the devolution, and where needed the conflict-of-laws position under the EU Succession Regulation.
Searching for how to “reseal” an English grant in Spain? There is no resealing in Spain — the notarial route runs instead; the certificate is how English law enters it. The full sequence is in our guide, An English solicitor’s guide to the Spanish estate on your desk.
And in the other direction
When the English file needs proof of Spanish law — the Probate Registry will accept evidence of foreign law under NCPR r.19, and since November 2020 a witness statement suffices in place of a sworn affidavit — we produce that certificate too, in English, from the same desk.
Why one desk matters
The usual route is two lawyers, a sworn translation and legalisation, and weeks lost mid-matter. Here the same lawyer is admitted — and practising — on both sides of the question: registered abogado in Spain, practising solicitor of England & Wales (overseas only). We draft the certificate once, in the language the receiving authority needs, ready to file. Check the registers →
The price
From €1,200 + VAT, fixed and agreed in writing before work begins (€2,200 for complex cases); free where we handle the estate itself.
A certificate needed on a file now? office@carrolllaw.eu — say which authority is asking and what for, and you’ll have a written fixed quote.
For solicitors and executors: how instructing us works · all certificates and forums.