Last verified: 2026-08-29 · Source: primary legislation and official status tables
Recovering a debt from a debtor in Spain
What applies, what it realistically takes, and where the limits are.
Confirmed parameters
Only values checked against a primary source appear here. Where a parameter has not been confirmed, it is left out rather than estimated.
- Parameter
- Limitation period for personal actions
- Value
- 5 years
- Source
- Código Civil art. 1964.2, as amended by Ley 42/2015
- Last verified
- 2026-08-29
- Parameter
- Interruption of the limitation period
- Value
- court claim, extrajudicial demand or acknowledgement by the debtor
- Source
- Codigo Civil art. 1973
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
- Parameter
- Late payment in commercial transactions: default payment term, interest and fixed compensation
- Value
- 30 days by default, maximum 60; interest at the ECB rate plus 8 percentage points; EUR 40 fixed compensation
- Source
- Ley 3/2004 art. 7 and art. 8, as amended by Ley 15/2010 and Ley 18/2022
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
- Parameter
- Investigative activity is a reserved licensed activity, which is why we do not carry it out
- Value
- a licence and entry in the national register are required
- Source
- Ley 5/2014 de Seguridad Privada art. 48-50, in force 5 June 2014
- Last verified
- 2026-08-30
Enforcement route
The applicable route for this jurisdiction is recorded as EU. The New York Convention applies to arbitral awards.
Practical constraints
Success fee is permitted.
Pages for a debtor in Spain
- Debt collection in Spain
- Judgment enforcement in Spain
- Insolvency-driven recovery in Spain
- Director liability claims in Spain
- Interim relief and asset preservation in Spain
- Trade and freight debt recovery in Spain
- Receivables sale and assignment in Spain
- How to recover an unpaid B2B invoice in Spain
What we do here
Debtor in Spain?
The Debt Check is free and tells you whether the claim is worth pursuing.
Start a Debt Check