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Court · Spain

Requerimiento de pago in a juicio monitorio

This one comes from a court, not from a debt collector — and doing nothing is the single most expensive option on the page.

How serious: enforcement closeAlso called: proceso monitorio, monitorio, requerimiento judicial de pago

A creditor has filed a petición inicial with the court claiming a debt, and the court has ordered the debtor to pay it or to say in writing why it is not owed.

The claim behind it is usually a bank, a utility, a landlord, a community of owners or a company that bought the debt. The court has not examined whether the claim is right; it has checked the papers and passed the demand on.

Two answers stop it — paying, or filing an escrito de oposición. Anything else, including a phone call to the creditor, is silence as far as the file is concerned.

Who sends it

The Juzgado de Primera Instancia for the debtor's domicile, through its Letrado de la Administración de Justicia.

A court letterhead with a procedure number, the words 'proceso monitorio' and 'requerimiento de pago', the creditor's name, the amount claimed, and a warning that enforcement follows if the debtor neither pays nor appears.

The deadline

Twenty days to pay or to file an escrito de oposición (LEC art. 815.1). Procedural days are días hábiles, and August is inhábil.

Twenty days to pay the amount or to file an escrito de oposición (LEC art. 815.1). Procedural days are días hábiles — weekends, public holidays and the whole of August do not count.

If you do nothing

If the debtor neither pays nor appears, the Letrado de la Administración de Justicia ends the monitorio by decreto and the creditor obtains enforcement on a mere request (LEC art. 816.1). From the order granting enforcement the debt carries interest under art. 576, and the amount claimed can no longer be litigated in an ordinary action by either side.

Compute your date

The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.

How it escalates

  1. 01Decreto ending the monitorio, and despacho de ejecución on the creditor's request alone (LEC art. 816.1).
  2. 02Embargo of bank accounts, wages and property under the enforcement, with the costs added.
  3. 03Interest under LEC art. 576 from the order granting enforcement.
  4. 04The amount becomes unchallengeable: neither side may re-litigate it in an ordinary action (art. 816.2).

Your options, procedurally

  • Pay the amount within the twenty days and file proof of payment with the court.
  • File an escrito de oposición within the twenty days, setting out in a reasoned way why the sum is not owed in whole or in part; where the amount requires it, the writing must be signed by abogado and procurador (LEC art. 818.1).
  • Ask the court for the creditor's petición inicial and the documents filed with it, to see what the claim rests on.
  • Where the amount does not exceed the juicio verbal limit, an opposition turns the case into a juicio verbal; above it, into a juicio ordinario.

How to respond

Response types

  • File the objectionEscrito de oposición al monitorio · LEC art. 815.1 y 818
  • Confirm paymentEscrito acreditando el pago · LEC art. 815.1
  • Ask for clarificationSolicitud de copia de la petición inicial y de los documentos aportados · LEC art. 815

Common questions

Is this a real court case?

Yes. The monitorio is a court procedure, and the requerimiento comes from the court, not from the creditor.

Do I need a lawyer to oppose?

LEC art. 818.1 requires the opposition to be signed by abogado and procurador where their intervention is required by the amount claimed; below that threshold it is not.

I paid part of it already.

Partial payment is one of the situations the opposition is written for: art. 818.1 deals expressly with pluspetición, where the amount claimed is more than what is owed.

Sources

Facts verified against the sources below on 10 September 2026.