Free Legal Assistance

It can be requested by those citizens who, being involved in any type of legal procedure or intending to initiate it, lack sufficient assets to litigate.

The right to free legal assistance will be recognised to those natural persons who, lacking sufficient assets, have resources and gross economic income, calculated annually for all income as a whole and per family unit, that do not exceed the following thresholds:

• Twice the Multiplier for the Public Income Index (IPREM) in force at the time of making the request in the case of persons not integrated into any family unit.
• Two and a half times the Multiplier for the Public Income Index in force at the time of making the application in the case of persons integrated into any of the family unit modalities with less than four members.
• Triple this indicator in the case of family units made up of four or more members.

The following are forms of family unit: For the determination of this concept in its various modalities, the provisions of the Personal Income Tax Law will be applied, equating spouses not legally separated with domestic partners constituted in accordance with the requirements that may be required of them.

Specifically, the following shall be entitled to free legal assistance:

• Spanish citizens, nationals of the other Member States of the European Union and foreigners residing in Spain, when they prove insufficient means to litigate.
• The Managing Entities and Common Services of Social Security.
• The following legal entities, when they prove insufficient means to litigate:
  • Public utility associations.
  • Foundations registered in the corresponding Administrative Register.
• In the social jurisdictional order: workers and beneficiaries of the Social Security system.
• In the criminal jurisdictional order: all citizens, even if foreigners, who prove insufficient means to litigate, even if they do not legally reside in Spanish territory, will have the right to legal assistance and free defence and representation.
• In the contentious-administrative order: foreign citizens who prove insufficient means to litigate, even if they do not legally reside in Spanish territory, will have the right to legal assistance and free defence and representation in all those processes related to their asylum application and Aliens Law, (including prior administrative means).

• At the Bar Association of the applicant's residence.
• In the Court of the applicant's residence or that where the judicial procedure is processed, which shall forward the application to the Bar Association.

The General Council of the Spanish Bars makes a web portal available to citizens called Justicia Gratuita (Free Justice) where you can obtain more information or check if the financial requirements required to benefit from the right to free legal assistance are fulfilled, among other functionalities.

Once the application has been submitted, the legal guidance services of the Bar Associations will examine the documentation submitted and, if they consider that it is insufficient or that there are shortcomings in the application, they will grant the interested party a period of 10 working days to correct the defects.

After analysing the application, and correcting any defects noted, the Bar Association must decide whether the applicant meets the necessary requirements:

• If the Bar Association considers that the applicant meets the legally established requirements to obtain the right to free legal assistance, it will provisionally appoint a lawyer within a maximum period of 15 days, counting from the receipt of the request or from the correction of the defects, and will notify this at the same time to the Bar Association so that, within the following 3 days, the Solicitor is appointed if his intervention is mandatory.
• If, on the other hand, the Bar Association considers that the applicant does not meet the necessary requirements, or that the claim of the application is unfounded, it will inform the applicant within a period of 5 days that it has not performed the provisional appointment of a Lawyer and, at the same time, it will transfer the request to the Free Legal Assistance Commission for it to decide.

When the Bar Association, within a period of 15 days from the receipt of the request or, where appropriate, from the correction of the defects noted, has not issued any decision regarding the provisional designation of Lawyer, the applicant may reiterate his request before the corresponding Free Legal Assistance Commission.

When it is appropriate to decide on the request for free legal assistance to the Free Legal Assistance Commission, the latter, once the relevant checks have been carried out, will issue a decision that recognizes or denies the right to free legal assistance within a maximum period of 30 days, counting from the receipt of the complete file.

• If it approves the request, it will establish in the decision which of the benefits that make up the right are applicable to the applicant. The decision to uphold of the right will involve the confirmation of the appointments of Lawyer and, if applicable, of Solicitor, made provisionally by the Bar Associations. In the event that such appointments have not occurred, the Free Legal Assistance Commission will immediately require the associations to appoint a lawyer and a solicitor, the latter when necessary.
• If the application is rejected, the appointments previously made by the Bar Associations will be null and void and, therefore, the applicant must appoint a Lawyer and Solicitor of his own choice.
• If a decision is not handed down within 30 days of receipt of the complete file, the request will be deemed to be upheld, hence:
  • If the Bar Association has appointed a Lawyer provisionally, the appointment shall be confirmed, as well as, if applicable, that of the Solicitor.
  • If the Association has not taken any decision on the appointment, in that case, at the request of the interested party, the Judge or Court hearing the process (or the competent senior judge if the request was made before the initiation of the process), will request the Bar Associations to appoint a Lawyer and, where appropriate, a Solicitor.

letter that will be submitted to the Secretariat of the corresponding Commission, within 5 days. The Court or Tribunal that is hearing the dispute will be competent to decide the contest, if the process has not yet been initiated, the judicial body to which it would correspond, without the possibility of subsequent appeal.

For more information and requests for recognition, please contact the Legal Guidance Services of the different Spanish Bar Associations or the General Council of the Spanish Bars.

Details required to start the procedure:

• Full name.
• ID number.
• Preferred place and means for notification purposes.
• Date of request.
• Personal details of the spouse.
• Identification of family members living with the applicant.
• Data certifying the financial situation of the interested party and their family unit (income, properties...).
• Personal and family circumstances (state of health, financial obligations...).
• Claim that is to be asserted before the courts and the procedural phase in which it is found.
• Identification of the opposing party or parties in the litigation, if any.

Documentation to be submitted:

Not all the documents listed below are necessary in all cases, but each case will be dealt with, depending on the situation of each applicant and the circumstances that you have pleaded in your application, which will be those that must be documented. In any case, an approximate list of what documentation may need to be provided in each case is provided below:

• Photocopy of the applicant's ID, passport or residence card.
• Certificate of payment of personal income tax and Wealth Tax (of the entire family unit).
• Certificate of payment of Corporate Income Tax (in the case of legal entities).
• Photocopy of the declaration of public utility or registration in the Foundations Register (in the case of legal entities).
• Photocopy of the driving licence or certificate of the Provincial Traffic Headquarters (only in case of crimes against traffic safety).
• Certificate of property ownership of the City Council where the residence is located.
• Photocopy of the family book.
• Municipal residence registration certificate.
• Company salary certificate.
• SEPE certificate of unemployment period and receipt of benefits.
• Photocopy of the lease of the usual residence, or, if applicable, a copy of the monthly receipt.
• Photocopies of ownership titles to real estate. Securities certificate.
• Other (any document that serves to prove the pleaded details).

Requirements to be able to apply for free legal assistance:

Individuals:

That the litigation is in defence of his own rights and interests or those of others when they are based on a legal representation. In this case, the requirements for obtaining the benefit will be referred to the represented party.

Regardless of the existence of resources to litigate, the right to free legal assistance is recognised which will be provided immediately, to victims of gender violence, terrorism and human trafficking in those processes that are linked to, arise from or are a consequence of their status as victims, as well as to minors and people with mental disabilities when they are victims of situations of abuse or mistreatment.

Regardless of the existence of resources to litigate, the right to free legal assistance is recognised to those who, due to an accident, prove permanent sequelae that totally prevent them from carrying out the tasks of their usual work or professional occupation and require the help of other people to carry out the most essential activities of daily life, when the object of the litigation is the claim for compensation for personal and moral damages suffered.
 

Legal persons:

That they are Public Utility Associations or Foundations registered in the corresponding Administrative Register.

That their tax base in Corporate Income Tax is less than the amount equivalent to three times the annual IPREM.

The IPREM according to the LPGE (General State Budget) for 2023 amounts to: €20 per day; €660 per month; €7,200 per year. (Ninetieth additional provision of Law 31/2022, of 23 December, on General State Budgets for 2023 (Spanish State Gazette (BOE) of 24 December 2022).