Document forgery lawyer in Alicante

What document forgery is

Under the Criminal Code (Código Penal), a document is any physical medium that expresses or contains data, facts or accounts with evidential value or any other legal relevance (article 26). That includes paper, but also electronic files, emails and PDFs.

Article 390 describes four ways of committing forgery:

1. Altering a document in any of its essential elements or requirements.
2. Faking a document in whole or in part, in a way that misleads as to its authenticity.
3. Making it appear that people took part in an act when they did not, or attributing to them statements other than those they made.
4. Misrepresenting the truth in the account of the facts.

This distinction is important: when the perpetrator is a private individual, articles 392 and 395 only punish the first three forms. Misrepresenting the truth in the account of the facts is only the offence of forgery if committed by a public authority or official in the course of their duties. That does not mean private individuals can make up documents: creating one that records a non-existent transaction, such as an invoice for work that was never done, can be treated as faking a document.

Types of document and common cases

The penalty depends above all on the type of document:

• Public and official: notarial deeds, administrative decisions, identity documents, land registry certificates.
• Commercial: invoices, delivery notes, bills of exchange, cheques, contracts and documents used in business dealings.
• Private: contracts between individuals, receipts, letters or vouchers that do not fall into the previous categories.
• Certificates: for example, medical certificates.

The cases we see most often are false invoices to justify expenses or obtain financing, imitated signatures on contracts or cheques, false identity documents and doctored supporting documents to obtain a grant or a loan. Forgery often goes hand in hand with fraud: the false document is the deception. In that case, article 77 requires a penalty higher than that for the more serious offence, without exceeding the total of the two.

Penalties for document forgery

How we defend you

1. We identify what type of document it is and how it has been classified. Whether a paper is commercial or private changes the penalty and determines whether intent to cause harm is required.
2. We check whether the alteration affects an essential element. A mistake or a change that is irrelevant to legal transactions is not criminal forgery.
3. We challenge authorship. Benefiting from a false document does not prove that you forged it. We request or rebut handwriting or digital forensic evidence.
4. We analyse knowledge. To punish the use of a false document, the prosecution must prove that you knew it was false.
5. If the case includes other offences, such as fraud or tax fraud, we put forward a joint defence to prevent the forgery from multiplying the sentence.

One special situation: if the false invoices or entries were made solely to conceal a tax debt and that debt is regularised in time, article 305.4 of the Criminal Code prevents those instrumental forgeries from being prosecuted. This is worth checking before taking any step.

If you have been summoned to give a statement, we prepare you beforehand. More information on our page about being summoned as a suspect.

Prison, criminal record and foreign nationals

Suspension of sentence. Most forgery offences committed by private individuals carry maximum penalties of three years or less. If the sentence does not exceed two years, it is your first offence and the requirements of article 80 are met, the judge can suspend it.

Limitation periods. Forgery of a public, official or commercial document by a private individual (maximum penalty of three years) becomes time-barred after five years. Forgery by a public official, with a penalty of up to six years, after ten (article 131).

Foreign nationals. The use of false passports or identity documents frequently affects foreign nationals. In addition to the penalty, article 89 provides that prison sentences of more than one year imposed on a foreign national are replaced by expulsion from Spain, with exceptions. We explain this on our page for foreign nationals and tourists.

If your signature or one of your documents has been forged

If someone has imitated your signature on a contract, loan or deed, or has used a doctored document against you, you can report it or file a criminal complaint (querella) and join the proceedings as a private prosecutor (acusación particular). We commission a handwriting expert report, seek to have what was signed in your name declared void and claim damages. Acting quickly stops the document from continuing to have legal effect. If the false document has been submitted against you in civil, employment or family proceedings, it can also be brought to the attention of the criminal court for investigation, and we will assess with you how this affects the proceedings already under way. More information on our private prosecution page.