There is a question that catches many foreign couples off guard when they sit down to sign a property purchase before a Spanish notary: "Under which matrimonial property regime are you married?". For a Spanish couple it is routine. For a foreign or mixed couple married abroad, that question can stall the deed if nobody brought the right document. Let us look at when that document is your prenuptial agreement, and when it needs translating.
Why the notary asks
It is not idle curiosity. Article 159 of the Spanish Notarial Regulation requires the notary to state the matrimonial property regime of a grantor whenever the transaction affects —or could later affect— the financial consequences of the marriage. Buying a home is the textbook case: the regime determines whether the property enters a shared estate or belongs solely to the person signing. The same applies in a succession or when winding up assets.
The matrimonial property regime is, put simply, the rules governing money and property within the marriage. The two broad models are community of acquisitions (sociedad de gananciales — what is earned during the marriage is common and split equally) and separation of property (separación de bienes — each spouse keeps and manages their own). Under Spanish common law, absent any agreement, community of acquisitions applies by default; but every country has its own default statutory regime, and many couples change it in writing.
Where the prenuptial agreement comes in
A prenuptial (or post-nuptial) agreement —capitulaciones matrimoniales in Spanish, contrat de mariage in French, Ehevertrag in German— is the contract by which spouses choose, alter or replace their property regime. It can be granted before or after the wedding and, in Spain, must be recorded in a public deed.
If a couple married abroad and signed such an agreement before a foreign notary, that document is the proof of which regime governs them. And here comes the double requirement: to take effect in Spain it needs a Hague Apostille (or legalisation, depending on the country) and a sworn translation into Spanish by a MAEC-accredited translator. A Spanish notary cannot accept a regime stated in a document they cannot read or whose authenticity is not certified.
The honest nuance: you do not always need a translation
Here it pays to be candid, because the answer is not a flat "always".
Article 159 itself draws a line between two situations. If the marriage is governed by the statutory regime of its country —the one that applies by default, with nothing agreed— then in many cases the grantors' own statement to the notary is enough: they declare they are married under regime X, and the notary records it. There is no document to translate because there is no document to produce.
It changes when a prenuptial agreement exists. If the regime is contractual, Article 159 requires that its granting be proven to the notary in authentic form. In other words: you must show the deed. And if it is drafted in another language, that deed travels apostilled and with its sworn translation.
Does that mean a couple without an agreement never has to translate anything? Not exactly. It depends on the notary, the country of origin, and whether the applicable statutory regime is in doubt. With spouses of different nationalities, or when EU Regulation 2016/1103 comes into play (allowing spouses to choose the law applicable to their regime), identifying the default statutory regime is not always obvious, and some notaries prefer to see translated documentation rather than rely on a bare declaration. With a prenuptial agreement, there is no room for interpretation: you prove it, full stop. Exactly which case is yours is decided by the notary authorising the deed, not by us — ask before the signing.
The three scenarios where it comes up
- Buying property. The notary states the regime in the purchase deed, and the Land Registry reflects it. A foreign prenuptial agreement travels translated. We cover the wider process in our guide to buying property in Spain as a foreigner.
- Inheritance. Before distributing an estate, the deceased's property regime must be settled. Whether they were in community or separation changes what enters the estate.
- Registering the marriage in Spain. Alongside registering a marriage celebrated abroad, the governing property regime is recorded. More detail in our guide to registering a foreign marriage in Spain.
In short
The practical rule is simple: if there is a prenuptial agreement signed abroad, expect to apostille and translate it; if your marriage runs on your country's statutory regime with nothing agreed, your declaration before the notary will likely suffice, though it is worth confirming. At Textualia we translate prenuptial agreements, capitulaciones, contrats de mariage and the deeds that accompany them from English and French into Spanish, with the precise terminology notaries and registries expect, delivered as an electronically signed PDF —or on paper when the signing before a notary is immediate.