Hispanic Notarial Records

Notes from Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy course Advanced Hispanic Research, Salt Lake City, January 2020

·         A notario, or notary, functions much like a contract lawyer, creating legally binding “authentic acts” (also called contracts or protocols), that regulate private relationships among individuals.

·         Notarios represented both parties and used standard form books.

·         Spanish law (and hence Latin America), required a notary in every town, dating back to the 13th century.

·         Notarial documents of interest to genealogists include marriage contracts, death inventories/estate settlements, and property sales/transfers.

 ·         How to find records in the archive

o    Books are generally organized chronologically under under the notary’s name

o    you will need to know the name of the notary (find this in death records), the town in which he served, the years in which he served; generally, a family continued to use the same notary

o    with this info you can request the legajo

·         Possible locations of notarial records: 

o    provincial archives

o    district archives

o    municipal archives

o    ecclesiastical or government archives

o    if not at archives, try local notary colegio, especially if records are more recent

o    local libraries or notarial offices

o    Records under 25 years old may be with notary; records 25 to 100 years old may be at notarial college; records more than 100 years old may be at an archive

·         Women could own property in Spanish countries and had significant testamentary power. They often left specific bequests to female family members and friends.

·         Use these terms in a Keyword search for notarial records: protocolos, registros, notariales, notaria, testamentos

JO