KieronF

Having just completed the process of conferring Power of Attorney on my Spanish solicitor I thought it might be useful to outline the process for those who may be interested -


1) Secure the services of a recommended solicitor in the local area in Spain and have them draft a general power of attorney document. This should be formatted in A4, two columns to the page. The Spanish language text should appear in one column, the English translation in the other.


2) Unless your Spanish is good enough (or you can trust the solicitor implicitly) have the Spanish translation checked to ensure it matches the English version.


3) Find a Public Notary in your area by visiting the Notaries Society website - https://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk/. Make an appointment to visit in person and have one copy of the document for each person concerned ie if husband and wife are buying a property in joint names, they must each have a power of attorney in their name. You must also bring your passport(s) with you, NOT copies.


4) In the presence of the Notary you will sign the PoA, they will then notarise the document with their official embossed stamp and their signature then they will bind the document together. The PoA will have a notarised copy of your passport attached to the bound document.


5) Visit the Foreign & Commonwealth Legalisation Services website at -
https://www.get-document-legalised.s...select-service and follow the prompts. You will be asked questions regarding the document and answer prompts to ensure it has been notarised etc. The legalisation service costs £30 per document and you can make payment online during the process. Once payment has been taken you are prompted to print a cover sheet that consists of a barcode and postal address for the FCO.


6) Post your PoA(s) to the FCO by registered post and once they have been received and checked the FCO will certify them as being officially notarised in the UK by attaching their own seal to the documents known as a Hague Apostille. This process usually takes about 4 days and once complete the FCO will either return the documents to you at the address you specified during the registration process OR they will courier the PoA direct to your solicitor in Spain if you specified this option during the registration process. The courier fees are taken at the time of registration payment and cost £13 for Europe.


7) The PoA should arrive with your solicitor within 7 days and you will receive an email with DHL tracking information from the FCO to that effect.

jonboy

Well-done you for posting that!
I done it in 2007 but could not even hope to explain the process. I hope others can benefit from your experiance.

Arco-Iris

Just as a matter of interest, why does the document have to go to the FCO for official notarisation if the PoA concerns matters in Spain and has been notarised in Spain? I ask this as a resident in Spain and am interested in a general PoA, not solely for buying property. I can see the advantage of FCO notarisation if one contemplates returning to the UK and would need a PoA there.

KieronF

The POA needs to go to the FCO as they, in turn, will confirm for the benefit of the Spanish authorities that the POA has been notarised at this end. It is to satisfy the Spanish end that the FCO are involved - they basically confirm that the UK notary is indeed qualified in that capacity and that the notary confirms the signatures as genuine. Imagine the situation where an unscrupulous lawyer in Spain could produce to the authorities any old document and purport that it is genuine PoA - think of the damage they could do.

MikeJ

The above advice is true if you want to arrange the POA from the UK - note we followed the same process for our Spanish wills (although our UK solicitor and notary public did the FCO/Apostile bit for us as part of the fee)

In Spain you can get the POA document from your solicitor - it will be in Spanish so you will not need a translation except for your own peace of mind.
You then visit the Public Notary with all your docs and it will probably be approved and registered there and then.

It's worth noting that cost of doing it in the UK is probably more than an off-season fare so you could get a 'free' short break to Spain for the same cost by nipping over and doing it in person

KieronF

Costs for two POA's were - Notary £125, postage to FCO £4, FCO fees x 2 £60, document courier to Spain £13 = Total £202


Six of one, half a dozen of the other but by the time you factor in airport parking, flights, hotel and food ........................

Arco-Iris

Many thanks for your replies.

MikeJ

Sometimes the glass IS half full