Spain · Foreign law before the notario · Information, not legal advice — as at 26 August 2026
Why the Spanish notario asks for a certificado de ley — and who can give one
A certificado de ley — sometimes styled an informe de ley or a sworn legal opinion on the foreign law — is a formal written statement of what the foreign law says, given by a lawyer qualified in that law, so that a Spanish notario (and, after the notario, the property registrar) can apply it to the succession: that an English will is valid, what its words mean, who takes under English intestacy, or that an election of English law under Brussels IV is effective. Spanish practice has no fixed statutory form — what matters is the author’s qualification and how precisely it answers the questions in the file, and Spain adds a wrinkle of its own: the land registry can re-examine the point after the notary has accepted it, so a thin certificate can fail twice. For a British estate it must arrive in Spanish (or with a sworn translation). We produce these certificates in-house, in Spanish, as the regulated English- and Irish-qualified lawyer also registered at a Spanish bar — usually the fastest single fix on a stalled Anglo-Spanish succession.
Every Anglo-Spanish estate reaches the same moment: the notario — before whom the Spanish inheritance deed must be signed — has to apply English law to something. Perhaps the will is English and its validity and meaning must be established. Perhaps there is no will anywhere, the certificado de últimas voluntades comes back clean, and English intestacy decides who takes. Perhaps the will elects the law of England and Wales under Brussels IV and the notario must know what that law actually provides before authorising the deed. A Spanish notario is not required to know English law — and will not guess at it. Foreign law must be proven to the Spanish authorities, as a fact. The instrument Spanish practice uses is the certificado de ley — a certificate of the foreign law, the Spanish cousin of the French certificat de coutume and of the affidavit of law an English or Irish court would expect.
What the certificate actually is
A formal written statement of the foreign law, given by someone qualified in it — classically a lawyer admitted in the relevant jurisdiction. There is no statutory template: its authority comes from the author’s qualification and the quality of its content. Spain’s mortgage regulation (art. 36 of the Reglamento Hipotecario) names a notary or consul, or a competent official of the foreign country, as the classic ways to prove foreign law; the list is open, so a lawyer’s certificate can be used, but it is the registrar who decides, which is why the certificate must leave him nothing to query. A good one reads like a short legal opinion: it identifies the question in the file, states the governing rules, applies them to the estate’s facts — this will is formally valid; these are the persons entitled, in these shares; this election is effective — and signs off with the author’s credentials, in Spanish or with a sworn translation. A poor one — a generic paragraph unmoored from the file — is precisely what gets rejected, and a rejected certificate stalls a succession for months.
The Spanish wrinkle: two officials, not one
Spain adds a feature the French system does not have. After the notario has accepted the proof and authorised the inheritance deed, the file travels to the Registro de la Propiedad — and the registrar examines the foreign-law point afresh. A certificate that scraped past the notary can still be queried at the registry, unwinding weeks of progress. The practical lesson: the certificate should be written to satisfy the strictest reader in the chain, not the friendliest — precise questions, precise answers, credentials the registrar can verify on a public register. And all the while the Spanish six-month tax clock keeps running — it does not pause because the file is waiting for proof of English law, which is why this document is so often the difference between a comfortable deadline and a missed one.
What it typically must cover, for a British estate
The recurring questions: the formal validity of the English or Irish will; its meaning — English drafting (executors, trusts, residuary gifts) does not map neatly onto Spanish concepts and needs translating in substance, not just language; who takes on intestacy where there is no will; the effect of a Brussels IV election; and how the English answer feeds the Spanish machinery — because whichever law decides who inherits, the Spanish property still transfers through the Spanish process: the notarial deed of acceptance, the tax filings, the registry. Since Brexit, no European Certificate of Succession can paper over any of this for a UK estate — the UK never joined that system — so the certificado de ley carries more weight on Anglo-Spanish files, not less.
Who can give one — and why in-house matters
The notario and the registrar need an author whose qualification they can rely on: a lawyer admitted in the jurisdiction whose law is being certified. In the usual chain, the Spanish notario asks the family to find an English firm, waits, receives an English-language opinion, and then has it sworn-translated — three parties, two languages, months. We compress the chain to one step: as an English- and Irish-qualified solicitor who is also the registered European lawyer at a Spanish bar, we produce the certificate in-house, in Spanish, addressed to the exact questions in the file — one author, no translation round-trip, credentials the registrar can check on a public register in a minute. The same proof is demanded, under other names, in all four of our countries — the French certificat de coutume, the Italian attestation of English law, the Portuguese certificate of English law — our certificates of foreign law, each at a published fixed fee (free where we administer the estate).
If a notario — or the registry — has asked your family for proof of English law, that request is usually the only thing between the file and its completion. Send us the notario’s note and the will, and we will tell you exactly what the certificate must say, what it costs, and how quickly it can be on the notario’s desk. If you are the English solicitor on the estate, the professional walkthrough is the English solicitor’s guide to the Spanish estate; and where the family’s first question is simply “who inherits, and in what shares?”, that is a fixed-fee written opinion, signed by a lawyer.