Negotiation
Negotiate a debt and close it with a signed agreement
Propose an amount and a payment schedule, discuss it in the chat and sign the agreement from your phone. No lawyers in between, no court to attend.
How it works, in four steps
- You open the case. You state who owes, how much and on what basis. You can prepare all of this without paying anything.
- You send the certified invitation. The other party receives it by email through Lleida.net, with a record of sending and of delivery. This is the moment the €12.90 is paid, and the only one.
- You negotiate in the chat. Each party proposes an amount and a schedule. Once the last two proposals are close enough, the agreement is automatically treated as closed.
- You sign. The document is generated from what was agreed and both parties sign it electronically from their phone. Both receive the agreement and its certificate.
The detail of each screen is on how it works.
What exactly gets negotiated
Two things, and both are written into the agreement:
- The amount. Almost no debt is collected in full and on the first attempt. A write-down accepted today is usually worth more than a judgment two years from now.
- The schedule. A single payment or instalments, with firm dates. For the person who owes, this often matters more than the figure; for the person collecting, it is what turns a promise into a dated commitment.
When negotiating beats claiming
Negotiating makes sense when the other party acknowledges the debt, or at least does not deny it, and the problem is how much or when. It also makes sense when the amount does not justify the cost of court proceedings, which is the case for most unpaid invoices between freelancers and small companies.
When the other party denies the debt outright, or has disappeared, the negotiation still serves a purpose: it puts on record that you tried.
The attempt counts, even without an agreement
Since 3 April 2025, the Ley Orgánica 1/2025 requires, as a general rule, that an appropriate dispute resolution method has been attempted before suing in civil and commercial matters. The certificate of the attempt issued by Capibara documents that step: who, to whom, when and with what reply.
What it costs
A complete negotiation costs €12.90, VAT included, in a single payment when the invitation is sent. There is no second charge on signing. The details and the other services are on the pricing page.
What Capibara is not
Capibara is a private negotiation and settlement platform. It is not a mediation or arbitration body, it does not represent either party and it does not give legal advice. If you want a neutral third party to step in, you can pick a mediator, an arbitrator or a collaborative lawyer from the directory.
Frequently asked
- What if the other party refuses to negotiate?
- The invitation expires after 31 days. The case closes and you download the certificate of the attempt, with the date and time of sending and of delivery. That document is what shows you attempted an agreement before claiming by another route.
- Does an agreement signed on Capibara have legal force?
- Yes. It is a contract between the parties, signed electronically through Lleida.net, a qualified trust service provider listed on the Spanish trusted list. Both parties receive the signed document and the signature certificate.
- Does the other party need to create an account?
- To negotiate in the chat, yes: the invitation guides them step by step and it takes no more than a few minutes. If you would rather they did not have to register, send them a binding offer instead: they receive it by email and sign from there.
- How many proposals can be sent?
- Five from each party. If you still have no agreement once they are used up, Capibara works out a midpoint proposal from the last two figures; if you both accept it, the agreement closes.
- Can the payment schedule be negotiated too, not just the amount?
- Yes. Each proposal carries both an amount and a schedule. You can agree a single payment or spread it out, and the schedule is written into the agreement that gets signed.
- Does it work for any kind of debt?
- It works for civil and commercial debts between individuals, freelancers and companies: unpaid invoices, loans between private parties, deposits, rent, unpaid services. It does not replace insolvency proceedings or claims against public authorities.
Capibara Legal, S.L. is a private negotiation and settlement service.
