Minutes of manifestations - Jesús Benavides Notary's Office
Minutes

Statement of manifestations

Step 1

What is a manifestation report?

It is the notarial document in which the declarations of a person are recorded, leaving a written record of everything that person says in the presence of the notary.

Step 2

What documentation do I need to go to the notary to execute a manifestation deed?

Step 3

How much does it cost to notarize a declaration of manifestations?

This is a merely informative and non-binding estimate. This estimate is calculated based on two criteria: 1) our knowledge of the Notarial Tariff and 2) our daily experience in the preparation of this type of notarial document. (Royal Decree 1426/1989, November 17, 1989). and 2) our daily experience in the preparation of this type of notarial document. However, any variation (upward or downward) will be duly justified at the time of issuing the final invoice for the notarial service rendered.

Step 4

More frequently asked questions

What is a manifestation report?

A record of manifestations is a notarial document, in which a Notary will collect all the manifestations and declarations that the applicant person makes before him/her, leaving a written record of everything that person says or exposes.

By means of this instrument, any person may leave a reliable record of a certain fact or circumstance, which concerns him/her or which is necessary to accredit before an administration, for the purpose of obtaining a public document in which it is reflected.

<ejemplo>Así pues, por ejemplo, suele ser muy habitual que, para que se conceda la autorización administrativa correspondiente a un extranjero no comunitario para estudiar en España, las autoridades de extranjería exijan que una persona residente en España se responsabilice del sustento económico y de la vivienda de este estudiante extranjero. <ejemplo>

<ejemplo>A tal efecto, mediante un acta de manifestaciones, un familiar de esta persona extranjera puede acudir a un Notario y manifestar que él se encargará de dar habitación y sustento económico a este estudiante, con lo cual, se conseguirá acreditar este requisito ante la autoridad competente, a los efectos de obtener la autorización necesaria para el viaje y estancia de dicho estudiante extranjero.<ejemplo>

What is the purpose of a manifestation report?

In practice, there are many cases in which the interested parties resort to the instrument of the minutes of manifestations, among which, in practice, the following are worth mentioning:

  • Persons involved in immigration law proceedings, for which it is necessary to prove a certain fact or circumstance (such as when a person states that he/she will be responsible for the maintenance of another foreigner during his/her stay in Spain, or when two foreigners state that they were a couple in their country of origin, etc.).
  • People who are in some kind of conflict or litigation (such as children and parents with conflicting relationships, existing debts between individuals, etc.) in which one of them wishes to record certain expressions or statements that he or third parties have been able to maintain.
  • In the commercial field, it is also very common the so called acts of manifestations of beneficial ownership, in which a representative of a company declares before a Notary the identity of the person or persons who hold the real and effective control of the ownership of such company, that is to say, more than 25 percent of its capital stock.

What is the usefulness of using the minutes of manifestations?

The great utility of the minutes of manifestations is the fact that all those declarations and manifestations that are made, are reflected in a public document authorized by a Notary, that is, a public official, independent and impartial, invested with the notarial public faith, with which, this will prove the identity and content of these manifestations, without any third party can doubt that it was so.

Thus, by doing so, any interested party will achieve two major effects:

In the first place, to accredit before any person that such declarations or statements have been made by the person indicated in the document, since the Notary, when authorizing the act, will identify the person who appears and makes them and will reflect it in the document, so that there will be a reliable and undoubted record that such person made such declarations.

<ejemplo>Así pues, por ejemplo, si para un determinado proceso judicial es necesario acreditar que el Sr. Juan tuvo conocimiento de unos determinados hechos, mediante un acta notarial se conseguirá acreditar que efectivamente el Sr. Juan realizó tales manifestaciones.<ejemplo>

<ejemplo>Por el contrario, si el Sr. Juan se limita a realizar estas declaraciones o manifestaciones y plasmarlas en un documento privado, cualquier otra parte siempre podrá alegar que dicho documento es falso y que no ha sido elaborado por el Sr. Juan, mientras que con el acta de manifestaciones, como es un Notario el que certifica que el Sr. Juan ha realizado estas declaraciones, nadie dudará que ello es así.<ejemplo>

And also, as a second very important effect to take into account, it is necessary to emphasize that the record of manifestations will make it possible to prove the moment in which the manifestations were made, since the public document will state the date on which said manifestations were made, so that, if necessary, it will be possible to prove that on a certain date a specific person had knowledge of certain facts.

<ejemplo>Así pues, si es necesario acreditar que la Sra. María era conocedora en enero de 2021 de un determinado hecho o circunstancia, si el día 30 de enero de 2021 acude a una Notaría y otorga un acta de manifestaciones en la que exponga dicho hecho o circunstancia, frente a cualquier persona, quedará acreditado que en esa fecha era conocedora de aquella situación que relate y quede reflejada en el acta de manifestaciones.<ejemplo>

<ejemplo>Por el contrario, si recoge esos hechos en un documento privado, como se ha indicado, cualquier parte contraria siempre podrá alegar que dicho documento es directamente falso o, en su caso, que la fecha del mismo no es la que realmente se indica en él.<ejemplo>

What aspects should be taken into account in the minutes of demonstrations?

In accordance with the regulations applicable to the minutes of manifestations, first of all, it is necessary to indicate that, from a technical point of view, these are called "minutes of reference", in which the Notary must record the statements of the requesting party "in the most appropriate manner" and "using the same words, as far as possible".

It is also necessary to bear in mind that, if necessary, the notary who authorizes the record must warn the applicant of the legal consequences of his statements.

<ejemplo>Así pues, si en un acta de responsabilidad económica para la autorización de residencia de un extranjero, el requirente manifiesta que asumirá los gastos de alojamiento y manutención de la persona que pretende desplazarse temporalmente a España, el Notario advertirá al requirente de las consecuencias legales y económicas para su persona en caso de no atender dichas obligaciones.<ejemplo>

When is it not possible to resort to the minutes of manifestations?

Broadly speaking, in a statement of statements, the person making the request may state or declare whatever he or she deems appropriate, without any limitation as to subject matter or theme.

Notwithstanding this general statement, those interested in this type of document should be aware that there are a number of cases in which it will not be possible to resort to this instrument:

In the first place, in the case that the manifestation contained or constitutes an act proper to a deed or a legal business of a contractual nature, since in such case, the appropriate instrument to reflect it will be the public deed and not the notarial act.

<ejemplo>Así pues, si una persona acude a una Notaría y desea otorgar un acta de manifestaciones en la que afirme que quiere designar como heredero a su hijo o donarle un inmueble, no será posible otorgar este documento, sino que la vía adecuada será otorgar un testamento notarial o una escritura de donación, respectivamente.<ejemplo>

Likewise, in the event that the statements or declarations made by the requesting party constitute a criminal offense, it will not be possible to grant the notarial record of statements that is sought, since in such case, the appropriate way to bring these facts to the attention of the competent police or judicial authorities will be the complaint or accusation.

Finally, it is also necessary to take into account that, in the event that the applicant resorts to expressions or statements that are clearly vexatious, disrespectful or inappropriate in relation to third parties, the requested Notary may either try to modulate them or, as the case may be, refuse the request as being contrary to morality or public order.

See more frequently asked questions

Can the Notary ask questions to the requesting person?

As indicated in the preceding questions, in the record of manifestations, the Notary shall limit himself to collect the testimony, expressions or manifestations made by the requesting person, without it being possible for the Notary to ask questions to the requesting person so that he may explain in more detail the facts narrated, since in this case, the function of the Notary is to adopt a merely passive role consisting of collecting these manifestations, without influencing them or being able to intervene actively in any way.

Can the manifestation certificate be granted by more than one applicant?

Of course, there is no impediment whatsoever in that there are two or more persons requesting the declaration, so that two, three or as many persons as necessary come to the notary's office, for the purpose of recording their declarations in the document.

In such a case, of course, the Notary will collect the statements indicating the specific person to whom each one of them corresponds, in order to be able to identify and individualize them properly.

Does the statement record prove the veracity of the statements it contains?

Of course, the answer to this question can only be negative, since, as it is logical, the fact of granting a record of manifestations in which certain statements or expressions are recorded, in no way proves the veracity of such statements or expressions, but it only implies to prove in an irrefutable way that this person has affirmed this specific statement on a specific date.

Therefore, as is logical, if the requesting person wishes to prove, before a third party or before the corresponding authority, the veracity of the statements or declarations contained in the record, he/she must resort to any means of proof admitted in law to achieve this purpose.

<ejemplo>Así pues, si la Sra. Anna acude a una Notaría y otorga un acta de manifestaciones en la que afirma que la Sra. Cristina le debe 10.000€, sólo con este documento no quedará acreditada la realidad de esta deuda, sino que la Sra. Anna deberá demostrar que ello es cierto a través de los medios de prueba de que disponga, como por ejemplo un contrato firmado entre las partes, emails en los que conste el reconocimiento de dicha deuda, etc.<ejemplo>

Is it possible to grant a record of manifestations of the telephone conversation between two or more persons?

In accordance with the regulations governing notarial records (specifically, Article 198 of the Notarial Regulations), it is not possible to include telephone conversations in a record of statements, as this is expressly prohibited by the aforementioned regulation, which means that no individual may request a Notary Public to draw up a record of statements concerning a telephone conversation.

Is it possible to grant a "mixed" certificate?

Of course, the interested parties should also know that, depending on the specific circumstances of the case, it is also possible to grant what may be called a mixed record, i.e., a record that includes statements of a person, but also elements of another type of record, such as, for example:

  • The deposit of any movable property, such as a pendrive containing confidential information affecting the applicant.
  • Or the notarization of relevant documents related to the statements contained in the minutes.

How is a manifestation certificate granted?

Granting a declaration of manifestations is a very simple act. The interested party must contact the notary's office and make an appointment for his request. 

At the agreed date and time, the interested party will go to the notary's office with his ID card, and will appear before the Notary, who will duly identify him by means of his identity document.

Once this procedure has been completed, the applicant may state what he/she deems appropriate before the Notary, who will take note of everything said by the person appearing, after which he/she will record all such statements and expressions in the draft of the record of statements.

Finally, the Notary will provide the client with a draft of the declaration of manifestations in which all the client's declaration has been included, so that the client can review it and verify that his will and declaration has been correctly recorded. If everything is correct, both the applicant and the Notary will sign the declaration, after which the act will be concluded.

After this, the Notary will prepare an authentic copy for the client, so that the client can take a copy of the document in which all the statements made are reflected, so that the client can make the corresponding use of said document.

Step 5

Where can I consult the applicable regulations?

Step 6

Make an appointment