Other practices
REAL ESTATE LAW
We advise and negotiate on behalf of our clients on real estate matters related to their family cases. In addition, taking into account our collaboration agreement with our friend Lupicinio International Law Firm, as well as with Inmobiliaria Garay (Burgos) we offer advice in the following areas of real estate law:
- Acquisition and sale. These are common transactions between individuals and companies; but sometimes, either because they are related to family matters (liquidation of community property or joint ownership, use and enjoyment of the family home, etc.), or because they are complex transactions that require a prior study or analysis of the documentation to verify that everything is in order (due diligence), it is advisable to seek appropriate advice before carrying out real estate transactions.
- Promotion, construction, and financing.
- Leasing. Leasing is one of the most frequent legal transactions and it is common to find that people sign contracts as lessor or lessee without first verifying the suitability of certain clauses. In addition, the legislation on urban leases is usually an instrument of economic policy; this explains the many significant legislative changes in recent times. Issues such as the duration of leases, the possibility of requesting the property for one’s own use or what happens in case of sale of the leased property are just some of the many aspects that must be considered before signing a lease. At Sainz & van Kesteren we advise landlords and tenants in the drafting and proposal of contracts that are adapted to the particularities of their personal situation and the conditions of each property.
- Sales, exchanges, surface rights, leases with building rights, constitution of guarantees, settlements, debt cancellations, usufructs, use rights, claims for payment from communities of owners. For the execution of these legal transactions, it is essential to have adequate advice. The exhaustive review of each contract, the research, and preparatory activities, as well as the signing of the necessary documentation; for all these acts we assist our clients immediately.
- Eviction proceedings. We represent our clients in proceedings for non-payment of rent or other amounts due, as well as for expiration of the contractual term.
- Proceedings for other contractual and non-contractual breaches. We also represent our clients in proceedings initiated for other types of contractual breaches such as requesting housing for own use or claims for damages
FAMILY CRIMINAL LAW
Following the provisions of the current law on the matter (Organic Law 1/2004, of December 28, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence), gender violence – also known in other legislations as ‘domestic violence’ – is that which is exercised against women by those who are or have been linked to them by affective relationships, whether partners or ex-partners, and whether physical or psychological.
At Saiz & van Kesteren we advise and defend our clients without distinction of gender when a family proceeding is linked to one of gender violence.
The Penal Code in force foresees non-compliance with family obligations by the person obliged to pay them can qualify as a crime of abandonment of the family, whether it is a partial or total non-payment; also, in the case of two consecutive or four alternate non-payments of alimony for children or compensatory alimony owed by one former spouse to the other; provided that they are contained in a judicial decision.
In these and other cases contemplated in the Code, Sainz & van Kesteren advises and defends its clients without distinction of gender whenever a family proceeding is linked to one on abandonment of a family member.
INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW
The increasing globalization makes the presence of the ‘foreign’ factor more and more frequent in most family proceedings. Supported by our spoken and written command of English, the language of international law, Sainz & van Kesteren advises and represents clients on the international aspects of family law, including the following:
The European Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 of 25 June 2019 on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility, and on international child abduction, regulates, together with the other national regulations in force, those cases of wrongful removal or retention of a child that affect more than one Member State of the European Union.
Sainz & van Kesteren can advise our clients on the issuance and enforcement of judgments ordering the return of a child to another Member State to be enforced in a Member State other than the Member State in which the judgment was rendered.
In private international law there is an essential element to establish the capacity of a State or not to hear a certain matter: the connecting factor. In divorces between persons of different nationalities, as well as in other family matters, the intervention of the so-called Spanish ‘jurisdiction’ may depend on factors such as nationality, place of residence or place of celebration of the marriage, among others.
At Sainz & van Kesteren we advise our clients on the possibilities and requirements for divorce in Spain or for the enforcement of foreign judgments in our country.
The complexity of international inheritances requires knowledge of their regulatory intricacies. Aspects such as requesting a death certificate or the last will and testament of a relative who died in Spain, as well as waving an inheritance or requesting an extension for the payment of the mandatory taxes from abroad, can be particularly complicated for heirs in general and even more so if they do not live in Spain.
At Sainz & van Kesteren we advise our foreign clients on the possibilities and conditions for inheriting in Spain.
In order to enforce judicial decisions such as a divorce decree in Spain, the local authorities need to determine whether the foreign judgment is valid and meets certain requirements necessary to be fully effective and enforceable in Spain.
At Sainz & van Kesteren we advise and solicit our clients on the possibilities and requirements to apply for the execuátur for judgments issued by authorities of other countries.
REGISTRATIONS, LEGALIZATIONS AND APOSTILLES
At Sainz & van Kesteren we take care of necessary or cumbersome procedures for our clients. Among others we take care of:
Subject to certain limitations set by the applicable legislation, persons who do wish to do so may request a change of name or a reversal of the order of their surnames. We advise our clients on the necessary procedures.
Whether it is a matter of persons or property, it is common to find errors in the respective registries. We advise our clients on the necessary procedures to carry out, modify or rectify registry information.
In order to carry out procedures or initiate proceedings by foreigners, residents and Spaniards in Spain or abroad, it is often necessary to present resolutions issued by foreign authorities. For their full legal recognition in Spain and in other countries, these documents must go through prior formalities such as legalization or the Hague Apostille (in the case of signatory countries of the Convention). We request for our clients in Spain the legalization and apostille of documents that require it.
We also request birth, marriage and death certificates for our clients in Spain.
