Category: Legal Spanish Vocabulary

Feminine noun. In Legal Spanish a sentencia firme is a judgment against which no appeal can be filed, either because the law does not provide for it, or because, being provided, the legally established period has elapsed without any of the parties having presented it. In criminal proceedings it is also used the expression condena firme. E.g.: Las exclusiones de más de cinco años deben aplicarse únicamente en virtud de sentencia firme: Exclusions for more than five years should take place only on the basis of an unappealable judgment.
The verb used here is quedar firme. E.g.: Esta sentencia solo fue notificada mediante edicto de 17 de octubre de 2020 y quedó firme el 24 de octubre del mismo año: This decision was notified by edict only on 17 October 2020, and became final on 24 October 2020. dc

Verb. Said of a participant: to receive the increase that corresponds to them when another participant loses their quota or renounces it. E.g.: Además también otorgan derecho de acrecer en proporción a las acciones que hayan suscripto en cada oportunidad: Such shares also give rights to increase the holding in proportion to the shares subscribed on each occasion. dc

Adverbial locution. This expression is almost exclusively used in legal contexts and it can be translated as definitely, firm. E.g.: La Comisión Europea no ha realizado hoy ninguna propuesta en firme sobre cifras presupuestarias para los próximos años: The European Commission has not made any firm proposals today about budget figures for the next few years. dc

Adjective. This word is exclusively from Legal Spanish and it means mandatory, prescriptive, constraining. E.g.: Se garantizará así su carácter vinculante y su aplicación directa por los tribunales nacionales. The convention would thus be rendered binding and directly applicable by domestic courts.
The verb is vincular, to constrain, to make mandatory; although it can be used on a more generic tone as to link. dc

Feminine noun. Loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or alternatively by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose while putting a lien on the property itself. E.g.: Cuídese de cualquier compañía que cobre una tarifa para refinanciar una hipoteca: Beware of any company that charges a fee to refinance a mortgage.
It is also used the expression crédito hipotecario, although it is used in a more formal register. Hipotecario/a is the adjective.
The verb is hipotecar. dc

Masculine noun. In Business and Legal Spanish aval is the person or thing that guarantees the payment of a credit, serves as a guarantee of the fulfillment of a certain thing or is responsible for the conduct of another person, normally by means of his signature. E.g.: De hecho, se ofreció al banco una garantía en forma de aval sobre el suelo y todos los activos fijos, así como siete letras de cambio: In fact a collateral in the form of a pledge on land and on all fixed assets was given to the bank, as well as seven bills of exchange.
I would use the terms aval and garantía (feminine noun) as synonyms. The only difference is that if the aval is a person, in this case it will be called garante and not garantía. La garantía refers always and exclusively to a thing, instead el aval can refer to both person and thing. Curiosly, aval cannot be turned into feminine if the person is female, instead, garante can: el/la garante.
On a more general note aval can also be translated as ‘endorsement’.
The verbs are avalar and garantizar. dc