The payment order procedure (proceso monitorio) is the Spanish court route for claiming a money debt of any amount that is liquid, fixed, due and payable, and backed by documents. The court orders the debtor to pay or oppose within twenty days. If they do neither, the creditor asks for enforcement without going through a trial.
In practice
The initial application needs no lawyer and no court representative (procurador), and you can use a form. It goes with the document that proves the debt: one signed by the debtor, invoices, delivery notes, certificates or, for a community of owners, the certificate of unpaid community charges.
Then one of three things happens:
- The debtor pays. The case is closed.
- They neither pay nor oppose. The payment order ends and the creditor can ask for enforcement, as if they had a judgment.
- They oppose. The case moves to the corresponding trial: the verbal trial if the amount is €15,000 or less, or the ordinary trial, for which the creditor has one month to file the claim. The opposition must be signed by a lawyer and procurador when the amount requires it.
Communities of owners have a special payment order in article 21 of the Horizontal Property Act. The application includes the certificate of the owners' meeting resolution approving the debt statement, with the amount and a breakdown, and the document proving the debtor was notified. If the owner in arrears opposes, the community can ask for a precautionary attachment of their assets, and the court grants it without requiring a deposit. The court's payment demand is served at the address the owner designated or, if they designated none, at the flat or premises.
Before filing, plan for the MASC. Organic Law 1/2025 exempts the European payment order, not the domestic one, and for community fees the Provincial Courts disagree: Alicante, Valencia and Málaga require a prior attempt to negotiate. The steps are in claiming community fees under the MASC rule.
What the law says
- Article 812 of the Civil Procedure Act (Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil, LEC). When it applies: a money debt of any amount, liquid, fixed, due and payable, proved by the documents it lists, including certificates of unpaid community charges (812.2.2).
- Article 813. Jurisdiction lies with the court of the debtor's domicile; for communities, also the court where the property is.
- Article 814. Initial application, without lawyer or procurador.
- Article 815. Twenty days to pay or oppose, and service at the owner's designated address (815.2).
- Articles 816 to 818. Enforcement if there is no response, closure if they pay, and a verbal or ordinary trial if they oppose.
- Article 21 of the Horizontal Property Act. The community payment order, precautionary attachment (21.4), and lawyer's and procurador's fees charged to the debtor, within limits (21.5).
- Article 5.3 of Organic Law 1/2025. Exempts the European payment order from the MASC, not the domestic one.
Common mistakes
- Claiming a debt that has not been quantified. If the amount is not fixed and documented, this is not the route.
- Skipping the prior notice. In the community payment order, without the document proving the debtor was notified, a requirement is missing.
- Filing without an attempt to negotiate in a province whose court requires one.
Sources
- Law 1/2000, Civil Procedure Act, arts. 250 and 812 to 818.
- Law 49/1960, Horizontal Property Act, art. 21.
- Organic Law 1/2025, art. 5.
- Alicante Provincial Court, Section 5, order 333/2026.