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English-Speaking Lawyers in Spain

Advisors in Spain handles divorce, contract and dispute cases across Spain, with an English-speaking lawyer for each case.

We handle divorce, contract review, civil and commercial disputes, and cases outside property, wills, probate or immigration, with the lawyer handling your case running it from the first reply to resolution.

Every case starts with the form below. Describe your situation, and an English-speaking lawyer who handles that exact type of work takes your case, from the first reply onward.

The lawyer you work with handles your case directly, from the first consultation to its resolution, and flags any question your matter raises about property, wills, probate or tax along the way.

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Typical timing No single figure covers every case type here The page explains what can change it. How the work runs 6 steps From your enquiry through to completion. What to prepare 6 items See the documents and details you will need.

Who Needs an English-Speaking Lawyer in Spain

  • You need an English-speaking lawyer in Spain when your case falls outside property, wills, probate or immigration work, such as a divorce, a contract dispute, a debt you need to recover, or a problem with squatters on your property.
  • This page covers divorce and family separation, contract review, civil and commercial disputes, squatter (okupa) problems and debt recovery, each handled by a lawyer who already works that kind of case.
  • The qualification form below asks what your case is, and a divorce, a dispute, a squatter problem and a debt claim are each handled by the lawyer whose practice covers that case type.

Buying or selling a property, writing a will, or administering probate each have their own specialist page. See property lawyers in Spain, Spanish wills or Spanish probate for that case. A visa or residency application is immigration work, covered separately through the Visas and Immigration section of the site.

What's Included When You Work With a Lawyer

The lawyer handles every step below directly, whichever case type brought you here.

  • Divorce and family separation. Your lawyer runs the case from the first filing to the final decree, whether it is by mutual agreement or contested. Read divorce in Spain for how the process itself works, or have a lawyer handle your divorce case.
  • Contract review and drafting. A lease, an employment contract or a commercial agreement gets checked or drafted before you sign, so a problem term gets caught while it is still easy to change. Have a lawyer review your contract before you sign.
  • Civil and commercial disputes. A dispute with a neighbour, a community of owners or a supplier is run by your lawyer from the first letter through to a court hearing if it comes to that. Have a lawyer take on your dispute.
  • Squatters (okupas) on your property. Your lawyer runs the legal route for recovering your property, from the police report to the court application. Have a lawyer handle your squatter case.
  • Debt recovery. Money owed to you by a person or a business in Spain gets pursued through the proceso monitorio, the court-based payment-order procedure, or through the ordinary courts where the debtor disputes it. Have a lawyer pursue your debt.

What You'll Need to Provide

Passport or NIE
Your passport, and your NIE (Spain's foreigner tax-ID number) where you already have one. The lawyer confirms whether your specific case needs it filed alongside the rest of the paperwork.
For a divorce
Your marriage certificate and any prior agreement between you and your spouse, such as a prenuptial contract or an earlier separation agreement.
For a contract dispute
The contract itself, plus any correspondence about the dispute already exchanged: emails, letters or formal notices.
For a squatter case
The property's title deed or nota simple, the land-registry extract, and, where you have one, your own tenancy or purchase paperwork for the property.
For debt recovery
The invoices, contracts or correspondence that document the debt: what is owed, by whom and since when.
The exact list for your case
Every case is different, and the lawyer covering your case type confirms precisely what is needed once you describe your situation in the qualification form below.

How the Process Works

  1. You submit the qualification form

    A few questions cover your case type and timeline. Answering them sends an enquiry to Advisors in Spain; nothing goes to a court or any authority yet.

  2. A lawyer takes on your case

    A lawyer who handles that case type takes on your case directly and replies to you personally.

  3. You have an initial consultation

    The lawyer reviews your situation directly with you, in English or Spanish, and sets out how they would run your case before any work starts.

  4. You engage the lawyer

    If you decide to go ahead, your lawyer sets out the fee structure and engagement terms directly with you before any work starts.

  5. The lawyer runs your case

    Filings, correspondence, hearings and negotiations, whatever your case type calls for, are handled by the lawyer, with updates back to you as the case moves.

  6. Your case reaches resolution

    A divorce ends in a decree, a dispute in a settlement or a judgment, a debt in payment or an enforcement order, each on its own timeline.

Timing: What to Expect and What Causes Delays

No single figure covers every case type here

An uncontested divorce, a debt claim and a contested commercial dispute each run on a different clock, so this section names what causes delay case by case, without one overall average.

What delays it

Court backlogs, missing or incomplete documents, and cross-border elements needing a sworn translation each push a case back, whatever the case type. A debt claim under the proceso monitorio, Articles 812 to 818 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, moves to enforcement only once the debtor has had 20 days to pay or object. A squatter case under the fast-track route added by Ley 5/2018 gives the occupant five days from notification to produce a title once the owner has asked for the property back immediately.

What to prepare now

Gather the documents your case type needs (the contract in a dispute, the marriage certificate in a divorce, the invoices in a debt claim) before the qualification form goes in, so the lawyer can start without waiting on paperwork.

Legal and Tax Considerations Alongside Your Case

A divorce case often reaches further than the decree itself. Splitting a jointly owned Spanish property raises the same questions as any other sale, and a change in where each spouse actually lives afterwards can change tax residency too. Where the property or estate side of a case needs its own specialist, property lawyers in Spain, Spanish wills and Spanish probate cover that work directly.

A debt-recovery case or a commercial dispute can touch a company’s own tax position, particularly when the debtor or the counterparty is a business, not a private individual. The lawyer you work with flags any such question at the initial consultation, not once the case is already underway.

Case types, sourced legal references and the process on this page are current as of 20 August 2026.

Timing depends on your case type and the lawyer handling it

Tell us your case type and timeline, and the lawyer handling your case type takes it on directly.

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Common questions

What types of legal cases does Advisors in Spain cover?
Divorce, contract review and drafting, civil and commercial disputes, squatter (okupa) problems and debt recovery. Buying or selling a property, writing a will, administering probate and handling a visa or residency filing each have their own dedicated page, since those jobs need a different kind of specialist.
Are there English-speaking solicitors in Spain?
Yes. The lawyer handling your case is English-speaking and Spanish-qualified and handles your specific case type. You explain your situation once, in English or Spanish, to that lawyer.
How much are solicitors' fees in Spain?
Fees vary by case complexity. You get a quote in writing before any work starts.
Can UK lawyers practice in Spain?
No, not on their own. Representing a client in a Spanish civil or commercial court needs a lawyer registered with a colegio de abogados, a Spanish provincial bar. A UK solicitor without that registration cannot conduct the case, and a Spanish-qualified, English-speaking lawyer on the team handles it for you.
Do I need a divorce lawyer in Spain?
Yes. Spanish law requires legal representation in every judicial divorce, under Article 750 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil. A contested case needs a separate lawyer for each spouse; an uncontested, mutual-consent case lets both spouses share a single lawyer and a single court representative.
How long does a divorce take in Spain?
It takes considerably longer for a contested case than an uncontested one, though no single national average covers both. Most Spanish divorces are settled by mutual agreement: INE's 2025 nullity, separation and divorce statistics record 80.5% of divorces as non-contentious against 19.5% contentious. The uncontested route moves faster because there is no dispute left for a judge to decide.
Can a solicitor in Spain review a contract before I sign it?
Yes. A lease, an employment contract and a commercial agreement are the ones that come up most often, and your lawyer reviews the terms and flags anything that works against you before you sign.
What can I do about squatters (okupas) in my Spanish property?
The general route is a police report followed by a court application. Ley 5/2018 (BOE) added a fast-track civil procedure at Article 441.1 bis of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil: an owner, a non-profit or a public housing body can ask a court to recover an illegally occupied home, and the occupant gets five days from notification to produce a title once the claim asks for immediate possession. No route guarantees a particular timeline; your lawyer confirms which one fits your case.
Can an English-speaking attorney help me recover a debt owed to me in Spain?
Yes. Spain's proceso monitorio, the court-based payment-order procedure at Articles 812 to 818 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil (BOE), covers any money debt that is fixed, due and evidenced by a document, an invoice or similar correspondence, with no upper limit on the amount. The debtor gets 20 days to pay or object once served. Silence ends the monitorio and lets you ask for enforcement on a bare application, and your attorney handles the filing and any objection that follows.
What's the difference between a gestor and a lawyer for a legal dispute?
A gestor is an administrative agent who handles routine paperwork and government filings. A gestor is not a lawyer, and cannot represent you in a dispute, draft a binding contract or appear in court on your behalf. A dispute, a contract or a court filing needs a lawyer registered with a colegio de abogados, and Advisors in Spain handles that work directly.
What documents do I need for a debt-recovery case?
Bring the invoices, contracts or correspondence that show what is owed, by whom and since when. The lawyer uses those records for the proceso monitorio or the ordinary courts where the debtor disputes the debt.
Who handles my case?
A Spanish-qualified lawyer who handles your case type: divorce, contract disputes, civil or commercial litigation, squatter cases or debt recovery. They reply to you directly and stay your contact through the case.

Why Work With Advisors in Spain

  • Every lawyer meets the same standard before taking a case.

    We do not take on a case we cannot handle well, and every lawyer on the team meets the same standard before they start work. We say so plainly if your case is not something we handle.

  • Every lawyer works in English or Spanish.

    You explain your case once, in English or Spanish, directly to the lawyer who handles it.

  • Coordinated support for related matters.

    Divorce, a contract dispute, a squatter case, and whatever legal question follows: we coordinate related requirements, with responsibility and scope agreed for each service.

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