How The Central Authority Works in Nicaragua

Written by: Undisputed Legal Inc.

This article will provide guidance on How The Central Authority Works in Nicaragua. One of the most common methods of serving documents on a defendant outside the country is the Hague Service Convention. The Convention aims to standardize and simplify the worldwide service procedure. As a member of the Convention from 2020, Nicaragua has adopted this practice as its default method of serving parties. Foreign plaintiffs wishing to serve Nicaragua courts or other entities with documents must do so in Spanish. Our Undisputed Legal private process servers are local to Nicaragua and can ensure your papers are served by domestic law. Click Here for information on the Code of Civil Procedure in Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, the president serves as both the head of state and the head of government. A multi-party system and a presidential representative democratic republic characterize the country’s political system. As a whole, the government exercises its executive power. The national assembly and the government both have the authority to pass laws. Another part of the government is the judiciary. Click here for How the Hague Convention Simplifies International Process Service.

No response can be served under the Hague Service Convention if the respondent’s address is unknown. Throughout these procedures, Nicaragua courts have the discretion to do what they deem essential to reach a just and equitable conclusion that honors the rights of every party. Private process servers from Undisputed Legal can assist with serving documents in Nicaragua in compliance with court regulations. Click Here for Frequently Asked Questions About Process Servers!

Understanding the Central Authority

Regarding legal matters, Nicaragua’s highest court is the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia, CSJ). Marvin Aguilar Garcia serves as vice president, and Alba Luz Ramos as president. Click here for information on How To Identify A Good Process Service Agency

The Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia, Secretaria) is the Central Authority in Nicaragua. As part of Civil Procedure Reform, the Supreme Court of Justice has formed several committees and commissions to assist with implementing the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Nicaragua. These include the Legal Infrastructure Commission of the CPN and the Technical Operational Committee to Support the Implementation of the Code of Civil Procedure, whose mission is to ensure the successful implementation of Law 902 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Click here for information on How Rush Process Service Can Expedite Your Case.

The Corte Suprema de Justicia aims to promote fair and equitable administration of civil justice. The goal is for justice to be impartial and independent and to ensure the legal certainty of the parties involved while respecting their fundamental human rights. Click here for information on How Service of Process Ensures A Solid Foundation.

The Secretaria is responsible for providing service in accessing, processing, and resolving civil judicial cases. The Secretaria acts by standards that uphold constitutional procedural guarantees and the international regulatory framework protecting human rights. The primary function is to develop an administration of justice in the civil jurisdictional area, which includes foreign litigants in Nicaragua. Click here for information on How Process Servers Protect Your Rights: Myths Debunked

Civil Procedure in Nicaragua

In the ordinary course of events, the disputing parties will lay out the relevant facts, argue their rights, and ask the court to adjudicate based on the evidence presented. The claims that fall inside the ‘scope of the ordinary process’ include civil claims. To attempt to settle the disagreement without starting a judicial procedure, parties may visit a center authorized for mediation or the offices of the Directorate of Alternative Conflict Resolution to submit the claim document. A pre-trial mediation session in a non-judicial setting must thus be completed by protocol. Click here for information on How To Overcome Language Barriers in Process Service

Following the standard procedure, parties must file a civil claim on official legal paper. This document must meet specific requirements to identify and locate the defendant and the plaintiff. Any summons must also describe the facts upon which the petition is based, stated in a precise, numbered, and organized manner. The document must also specify the means of proof that must be used. Finally, it must establish the claims that have been formulated and the protection sought. Click here for information on How Timelines Are Important in Process Serving.

The judicial authority must review the claim to determine its competence and the parties’ ability to participate. If necessary, the authority must also confirm if legal representation has been obtained and whether the documents supporting the parties’ appearance are included. There is a five-day window in which the demand must be acknowledged.

The defendant must respond to the complaint following the proper legal procedures within thirty days. The defendant will deny or admit the plaintiff’s alleged facts in response to the claim. They will also argue against the plaintiff’s claims, providing reasons for their stance. The defendant has the discretion to assert five material exceptions, which must be considered. The exceptions can be either procedural or dilatory. If the defendant does not address the allegations made in the case in their answer, the court will see it as an acknowledgment of those allegations. Suppose the first accusations (Complaint and Answer of Demand) are submitted in the correct format or after the deadline for answering the demand. In that case, the judicial authority will meet no later than five days before the initial hearing, which cannot be later than twenty days after that.

Once the requisite funds and conditions have been completed, the competent civil court authority may prescribe a conservation or protection measure on an asset or proper and secure future compliance with the sentence that concludes the procedure. This is known as the precautionary process. The relevant court body must be aware of the civil procedure or, if applicable, the party handling the process. The judicial authority of execution and seizure is responsible for carrying out the preventive action that has been taken.

With our Undisputed Legal process servers, you can rest easy knowing that your documents will be served correctly and according to Nicaraguan laws. This will allow you to efficiently and confidently navigate the complexities of international legal proceedings.

Procedure for Serving Legal Documents in Nicaragua under the Hague Service Convention

Nicaragua ratified the HCCH Convention, 1965, on the service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents on July 24^th, 2019. On January 25^th, 2020, Nicaragua’s objection period it ended. Service with court documents concerning litigation filed outside of Nicaragua is now more accessible within the country.

The Hague Service Convention aims to expedite the process of serving summonses on parties involved in a foreign action. The Hague Service Convention model form consists of three parts and is available in many languages. This includes requests, certificates, summaries, and warnings. By streamlining the document transmission process between national judicial bodies, the Hague Service Convention model reduces uncertainty over the correct execution of service. Nicaragua’s commitment to the Hague Service Convention will notify parties of current action in another jurisdiction more quickly and easily via our Undisputed Legal private process servers.

Letters rogatory will not be necessary for process service in Nicaragua after the country acceded to the Hague Service Convention. All paperwork submitted to the Nicaragua Process Service has to be forwarded via diplomatic channels for processing and legalization until the standard form is introduced. The Central Authority of Nicaragua is the only entity authorized by the Hague Service Convention to handle requests for Nicaragua Process Service inside the country.

Nicaragua has embraced the Hague Service Convention, contrasting the Letters Rogatory two-tiered procedure. The Hague Service Convention does not apply to many Latin American nations, including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. The plaintiff must make a written demand to initiate any legal action.

The Hague Service Convention facilitated service between parties in other contracting countries by standardizing and streamlining the procedure. Under the pact, each state’s government must designate a single point of contact for all aid requests. A judge or authorized official in the state where service is to be made might submit a formal request to the state’s administrative office. The legal process of serving requests in Nicaragua is typically handled by the centralized authority of the receiving state, often via a local court. Now, the court official who asked for it will get an acknowledgment from the central authorities.

Legal documents may be served in Nicaragua via various routes by the Hague Convention. These channels include postal or diplomatic/consular agents, judicial officials, authorities, etc. Approval of these provisions as a valid manner of serving documents in their jurisdiction under Articles 8 to 10 is a matter of member states’ discretion. It usually takes the Central Agency four to twelve months to ensure service has been conducted. After sufficient time has elapsed, the Court may decide the case.

Service of papers may only be delivered by mail to states that have not objected to this service method under Article 10(a) of the convention and jurisdictions where the judicial action is being heard. Our Undisputed Legal process servers will still serve documents in any nation that has signed the Hague Service Convention. While informal services are often much faster, professional ones might take months or more. One of Nicaragua’s official languages must be used to write or translate the document.

Notary in Nicaragua

Critical professional services like Notaries often do not need a license in Nicaragua. One must first register with the Supreme Court to practice law in Nicaragua. The Supreme Court also grants public notaries five-year authorizations. The amendment to Notary Law and the Commercial Code Reforms Law No. 1113 was released on April 4^th, 2022. This new act amends the Notary Law and one provision of the Commercial Code.

When clients carry out or authorize papers relating to legally specified activities (such as real estate transfers, establishment, administration, acquisition, and sale of legal entities), the notary must engage in the preventative activity. The notary will determine who will benefit from the legal entities and fill out the appropriate report. All commercial firm requests should include a certified copy of the final beneficiary’s most recent certification or declaration, as issued by the Registry.

To process license, operating permit, or vendor applications to the state, all public sector institutions and municipalities must request that commercial companies submit the Certification of declaration or update of Final Beneficiary issued by the Registry. Judges in civil and commercial matters must also ask for this certification when companies bring any action, demand, or request. Nicaraguan businesses must update their Final Beneficiary Declarations to bring any document to the attention of a public notary.

The National Council of Administration and Judicial Career of the Supreme Court of Justice is the governing body of the notarial function. It also reiterates that Public Notaries of Nicaragua are obligated subjects and must comply with the duties and obligations established by laws and regulations regarding preventing, detecting, and reporting activities potentially linked to activities against public interest. All notaries must maintain the secrecy of all grantor-related information, data, and document content, even after the professional relationship has ended.

Power of Attorney in Nicaragua

Making real estate transactions when a party is not in Nicaragua is possible with a Power of Attorney (POA). The individual you trust most and who will be responsible for completing the acquisition or transaction can be given this power of attorney.

A Nicaraguan Notary Public fluent in Spanish will need your signature on the power of attorney document. There are two methods to award the POA while outside of Nicaraguan territory. A Power of Attorney may be given via the Nicaraguan Consulate or before the ambassador of the nation where you are currently located, who is responsible for consular matters. The POA must be forwarded to Nicaragua to be duly legalized.

A notary public can also issue a power of attorney in the country where you currently reside. Then, it needs to be apostilled, which can be done by the Secretary of State in the US (or the Court of Appeals in France, for example) or the Foreign Relations offices in other countries. The POA may be completed in any language, but to be utilized and accepted in Nicaragua, it must be translated into Spanish. In Nicaragua, translation services are available.

A legal power of attorney for Nicaragua must be obtained from a lawyer or real estate agent before the POA may be executed outside of Nicaragua. The parties are free to change and adapt the created Powers of Attorney to incorporate their own free will, although they may use them as a reference for further elaboration. To approve a Power of Attorney, the applicant must provide the original document and a certified copy that a Notary Public has notarized.

Legislators have adopted modern trends into civil laws governing businesses’ conduct. As such, the laws governing civil daily life for Nicaraguan citizens and citizens who wish to invest in Nicaragua have changed significantly. The Substantive Regulation (Civil Code), 1904, was revised and updated in 2019 by the National Assembly. This has led to the adoption of new procedures for the issuance of Powers of Attorney overseas. So, depending on the nation of origin, the interested party may visit the Nicaraguan Consulate and authorize the power of attorney or mandate before the Nicaraguan Consul, who also serves as a public notary, and then have it apostilled or authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

To be legally valid in Nicaragua, a public deed must be translated into Spanish before a Nicaraguan notary with ten years of experience in the field. This is in addition to the apostille or authentication required if the Mandate or Power of Attorney is issued in a language other than Spanish by a notary in the country of origin.

The Power of Attorney must precisely state the gift of faculties or special powers. If the representative’s authority has not been specifically designated or restricted, they will be granted the powers granted to the generalissimo, general, or special representative by law. To enable the client to lawfully carry out all the procedural actions involved in the processing of the processes, from preparation to execution, the General Judicial Power to litigate can be granted for specific processes or for any process in general where the client intervenes, including, where appropriate, the various instances, resources, and appeal means.

Providing proof of service is essential for complying with Nicaragua’s legal procedures. Acknowledgments, such as affidavits or certificates of service, are what our Undisputed Legal team offers to prove your documents’ legal and proper serving.

Complex cases can be complicated, particularly those involving multiple parties or international considerations. Our local process servers have experience in international document service. Undisputed Legal can personalize the service of papers to match your specific needs. At Undisputed Legal, we can help you with any legal matter, from serving papers in a divorce case to resolving complex business disputes.

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FOR ASSISTANCE SERVING LEGAL PAPERS IN NICARAGUA

Pick up the phone and call Toll Free (800) 774-6922, or click the service you want to purchase. Our dedicated team of professionals is ready to assist you. We can handle all your Nicaragua process service needs; no job is too small or too large!

Contact us for more information about our process-serving agency. We are ready to provide service of process to all our clients globally from our offices in New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.

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Sources

¹ Judge Dra. Ileana del Rosario Pérez López, in her role as President of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court, leads and coordinates the efforts of these groups.

² providing minimum guarantees of due process by the principles outlined in articles 34, 46, and 160 of the Magna Carta is to be promoted through the training, implementation, and enforcement of Law No. 902, Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Nicaragua.

³ Law No. 902, Code of Civil Procedure

⁴ The specifics of the ongoing Nicaragua process service are accessible to all parties and their agents. The parties may only be represented by lawyers authorized and registered by the country’s highest court of law. Submitting a power of attorney is required to act on behalf of the party. Solicitors outside the country cannot provide legal representation in court proceedings.

⁵ No member state may provide official documents without using the Central Agency (Article 5).

⁶ Also, if there’s an urgent matter, the court may issue a protective order or interim injunction before the six-month waiting period ends.

⁷ This law amends Article 121 of the Commercial Code, which was amended in 2020

⁸ Concerning the revision of Article 121 of the Commercial Code, it is mentioned that all businesses must identify the final beneficiary and declare it before the relevant registry. This certificate is then required whenever a business requests a license or operating permit, participates in a tender, or files a claim or request, as well as by all public sector and municipal institutions.

⁹ But in the instance of Power of Attorney models about medical equipment distribution, it is imperative to incorporate the manufacturer’s contractual obligation to furnish equipment parts and components, in addition to technical support, for a minimum of five years following the last equipment’s entry into the Nicaraguan market.

¹0 The new edition, published in 2019, removed or changed articles that dealt with issues previously addressed by a specific law or code or introduced new, modern legal concepts that weren’t there in the original.

¹1 Law 902, Civil Procedural Code, supra note iii.