The Council of Ministers has agreed that the next Regulatory Law of Notarial Procedures in Matters of Voluntary Jurisdiction will include the option to marry or divorce before a notary.
The option to contract a marriage before a notary will be in addition to all other options such as: before a judge in the Civil Registry, before the Mayor or Councillor, or a religious ceremony where the marriage will be registered afterwards.
In cities like Madrid there is a waiting list of up to four months to initiate the marriage procedure and the same goes for divorce procedures in municipal courts. Being able to marry or divorce before a notary will speed up the process, especially for the Civil Registry.
To marry before a notary will cost 95€. You may only divorce before a notary if a mutual agreement exists a between both spouses and if there are no children under the age of 18 involved.
This is great news for us as we have seen families suffer while waiting their turn to get married since in most of our cases, our client´s residency in Spain depends on this.
We would like to remind you that marrying a Spaniard will give you the right to an EU citizen family member residence card, valid for 5 years, and easily renewable by providing proof of maintained marriage.
On the other hand, if your spouse if not Spanish but he has a valid residence permit you may apply for a Social Integration Residence Card (residencia por arraigo) if you have been in Spain for at least three years.
As always, please don´t hestitate to contact us with any doubts or questions that you may have going through this process.
Translated by: Katherine Pascal