Legal blog: practical guides and legal news
Ten long guides on the procedures most often asked about at Ajuridic: fines and files from Barcelona City Council, damages claims, inheritance, housing and contracts.
Written from the firm's own practice, with the rules that apply in Barcelona and in Catalonia.
Understanding the procedure before the time limit runs out
At Ajuridic we publish these guides with a specific aim: that anyone with a legal problem on their hands should understand, even before phoning the firm, where they stand and how much time they have. A good part of the rights that are lost are not lost at a trial, but in a time limit that expired while the person was still deciding what to do with an envelope that arrived by recorded delivery.
They are not short news items. Each entry goes through a whole procedure: what documents have to be gathered, which authority or court they are filed with, within what time limits, what the other side usually replies and what happens if the reply is unfavourable. They are written from the firm's daily work and with the rules that apply here: Catalan civil law on succession, Barcelona City Council's by-laws on traffic and civic conduct, and the common administrative procedure act when the counterpart is a public authority.
The publications are grouped into four blocks, matching the queries that most often come in by telephone. The first brings together everything that arrives with a City Council stamp: fines, penalty files and the by-law on scooters and personal mobility vehicles. The second deals with damage and its repair: road traffic accidents, medical negligence and civil liability insurance. The third, assets: inheritance and succession, house purchase and civil contracts. The fourth covers the legislative changes that affect how matters are handled, beginning with the reform of the court system. The firm's practice areas that do not yet have a published guide are explained on the practice area pages.
This blog speaks in the plural because behind every file there is a network of notaries, procuradores (court agents) and specialist lawyers with which Ajuridic works regularly. The firm's principal, Noemí Ampurdanés Parés, ICAB member no. 22359 and with more than 30 years in practice, keeps her professional profile at noemiampurdanes.com. If after reading a guide questions remain — and they almost always do, because the specific facts change everything —, the quick route is the telephone 614 26 26 92. We work in Spanish, Catalan, English and Arabic (Arabic by prior appointment).
The scope of these guides
They are informative and general in nature. They do not constitute legal advice and are no substitute for the analysis of a specific case: the rules change and the outcome depends on the facts, the dates and the documents in each file.
Immigration law
The area the firm gets most queries about, and the one with the most out-of-date content circulating online: here every requirement and every time limit comes with the article of the Regulations that states it.
Employment law
What is decided in days, not months: a dismissal has twenty working days to be challenged, and that time limit expires.
Municipal law and penalties
Everything that arrives with the Barcelona City Council stamp: the penalty, the file behind it and the time limits for replying to it.
Administrative fines in Barcelona
What types of penalty the City Council imposes and how they are classified by seriousness. When it pays to take the early-payment discount, when to appeal and what mistakes by the authorities render a fine void.
Read the guide
Administrative procedures in Barcelona
How a file against a public authority works: time limits, administrative silence and types of appeal, from submissions to the administrative court route.
Read the guide
Electric scooters and personal mobility vehicles: the Barcelona by-law
Technical requirements for personal mobility vehicles, where you can ride and where you can park, with the penalty regime of the municipal by-law.
Read the guideDamage, insurance and civil liability
When someone suffers harm and it has to be proved who is liable, with what evidence and within what time limit.
Road traffic accidents: how to claim compensation
What to do in the hours after the accident and what documents preserve the right to claim. How the damage is valued under the baremo and how long there is to bring the claim.
Read the guide
Medical negligence: how to claim in Barcelona
When medical harm amounts in law to negligence, how much weight the expert report carries and how the out-of-court claim and the court route are ordered.
Read the guide
Civil liability insurance: what it covers and what it does not
Types of policy — vehicles and personal mobility vehicles, home and pets, professional liability —, the small print worth reviewing and the steps for claiming on a policy.
Read the guideInheritance, housing and contracts
Assets: what is inherited, what is bought and what is signed. Catalan civil law and regional taxation weigh heavily here.
Wills, probate and inheritance in Barcelona
Catalan succession law step by step: the legítima (the compulsory share) of one quarter, the surviving spouse's usufruct, the four stages of succession and the Impuesto de Sucesiones (inheritance tax) in Catalonia.
Read the guide
Buying and selling property in Barcelona
The three stages of a sale: preliminary documents and Land Registry checks, the arras (deposit) contract and the deed before a notary, and the division of taxes and costs between buyer and seller.
Read the guide
Civil contracts and claims
Types of civil contract and clauses worth reading before signing, forms of breach and routes for claiming: an out-of-court demand, mediation and a court claim.
Read the guideLegislative news
Reforms that change the how, not the what: the way matters are handled and the timescales you can expect.
Does your matter not fit any of the guides?
The guides explain the general procedure; a specific file is assessed with the papers in front of us. At Ajuridic you are seen at Carrer del Freser, 104, in El Clot, and also by telephone and WhatsApp.