“Summoned by the Investigation Section of the Court of Instance”: What the New Bodies Are

You file a criminal complaint, or you receive a court summons, and the heading no longer says "Investigative Court no. 7" (Juzgado de Instrucción) but "Investigation Section of the Court of Instance" (Sección de Instrucción del Tribunal de Instancia). It is not a mistake, nor a special body created for your case: it is the new judicial organisation introduced by Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January, on measures of efficiency of the Public Justice Service. In this article we explain what the Courts of Instance are, how they were rolled out in phases during 2025 and — above all — what the change means, and does not mean, for complainants and suspects in Spanish criminal proceedings.

What the Courts of Instance Are

Until 2025, first-instance criminal justice in Spain was organised through independent single-judge courts: investigative courts (Juzgados de Instrucción), criminal trial courts (Juzgados de lo Penal), violence against women courts, juvenile courts and prison supervision courts. Organic Law 1/2025 merges them into a single Court of Instance for each judicial district (partido judicial), organised into specialised Sections. In criminal matters, the main ones are:

• Investigation Section (Sección de Instrucción): takes over the functions of the former investigative courts: pre-trial investigation, duty-court service and the trial of minor offences.
• Criminal Section (Sección de lo Penal): tries the offences previously heard by the criminal trial courts.
• Violence against Women Section: investigates and, where the law so provides, tries gender-violence offences and, since October 2025, sexual offences with female victims.
• Other Sections: juveniles, prison supervision or violence against children and adolescents, where established, alongside the civil and commercial ones.

The correspondence between the old and new names is direct:

Before (until 2025)	Now
Investigative Court (Juzgado de Instrucción)	Investigation Section of the Court of Instance
Criminal Trial Court (Juzgado de lo Penal)	Criminal Section of the Court of Instance
Violence against Women Court	Violence against Women Section of the Court of Instance
Juvenile Court	Juveniles Section of the Court of Instance
Prison Supervision Court	Prison Supervision Section of the Court of Instance

One point deserves emphasis: judges continue to decide alone. Each case is investigated or tried by a single judge, exactly as before. The Court of Instance does not turn the investigation into a panel decision. It is an organisational structure designed to gain specialisation, distribute workload more evenly and cover absences and vacancies without paralysing proceedings. The Provincial Court (Audiencia Provincial), for its part, does not change: it keeps its name and its jurisdiction.

What Changes in Practice: the Name on Your Summons

The most visible change for citizens is terminological. Where a document used to read "Investigative Court no. 7 of Madrid", it now reads "Investigation Section of the Court of Instance of Madrid". In Madrid, the criminal courthouses at Plaza de Castilla now host the Sections of the Court of Instance, in the same buildings and, as a general rule, with the same judges.

Your case keeps the same file number and the same procedural status. Summonses bearing the new name are fully valid and binding, just like the old ones: ignoring them can carry the usual consequences, from a fine to the arrest of a suspect who fails to appear. One additional caution: scams impersonating judicial communications do exist. If you doubt the authenticity of a summons, verify it through your lawyer or directly with the court itself before providing any information or clicking on links.

The Timetable: Three Phases During 2025

The transformation was not simultaneous across the country. Organic Law 1/2025 set a staggered rollout in three phases:

• 1 July 2025: first phase, in judicial districts with mixed courts, that is, where a single court combined first-instance civil matters and criminal investigation.
• 1 October 2025: second phase, extending the model to a further group of judicial districts.
• 31 December 2025: third and final phase, completing the rollout across the rest of the territory.

Since 31 December 2025, therefore, the model is fully in place: every criminal summons, notification and ruling now uses the new names. Proceedings that were under way were neither restarted nor interrupted: they simply continued before the corresponding Section, preserving everything already done in the case.

Complainants and Suspects: Your Rights Do Not Change

This is the question we are asked most often at the firm, and the answer is clear: the reform of the court structure is organisational and neither curtails nor expands the parties' guarantees. The Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim) continues to govern the proceedings:

• If you filed a complaint: you do not have to file it again or ratify anything because of the change of body. You keep your right to be informed of the status of the case, to join the proceedings as a private prosecutor (acusación particular) and to be heard where the law so provides.
• If you are under investigation: your right of defence, legal assistance, the right to remain silent and not to incriminate yourself, access to the case file and the ability to appeal rulings against you remain intact, within the same deadlines.
• Deadlines and appeals do not vary: the appeals against the investigating judge's rulings, the maximum investigation periods and the trial rules are still those of the LECrim.

Nor has jurisdiction moved around. Under Article 14 LECrim, the Investigation Section investigates cases and tries minor offences; the Criminal Section tries offences punishable by up to five years' imprisonment (or a fine, or other penalties of up to ten years' duration); and the Provincial Court hears the most serious offences and jury-trial proceedings. It is exactly the same distribution that existed between investigative courts, criminal trial courts and the Provincial Courts: only the sign on the door has changed.

A different matter is that Organic Law 1/2025 also introduced substantive procedural reforms: the rules on negotiated guilty pleas (conformidad) were overhauled (Article 655 LECrim no longer has a penalty ceiling and Article 785 LECrim regulates a preliminary hearing to channel them), and unlawful entry into a dwelling (Article 202 CP) and squatting-type usurpation (Article 245 CP) are now processed through the fast-track procedure. But those changes stem from the procedural reform itself, not from the new court structure: the fact that your summons says "Court of Instance" does not, by itself, alter your position in the proceedings.

Violence against Women Sections and Sexual Offences

Here there is a substantive change worth knowing. Since 3 October 2025, the Violence against Women Sections have taken over the investigation of all offences against sexual freedom where the victim is a woman, whether or not there is a relationship between victim and perpetrator. Article 14.5 LECrim expressly assigns to them the investigation of the offences against sexual freedom under Title VIII of Book II of the Spanish Criminal Code (CP), as well as female genital mutilation, forced marriage, harassment with a sexual connotation and trafficking for sexual exploitation, "where the person harmed by the offence is a woman".

For child victims, jurisdiction follows specific rules: where Violence against Children and Adolescents Sections have been set up, they handle the investigation of offences with child victims; and if the same facts could fall to both specialised sections, the law gives preference to the Violence against Women Section. The Supreme Court, when resolving jurisdictional disputes in early 2026, further clarified that in judicial districts with no specialised body, the investigation of sexual offences against minors falls to the ordinary Investigation Section.

For complainants and suspects, this specialisation does not alter the guarantees either: what changes is the body conducting the investigation, not the procedure or the rights. It does matter strategically for the defence, because the specialised sections apply settled criteria on precautionary measures, protection orders and the taking of the victim's testimony, and knowing them allows each step to be better prepared.

What to Do If You Receive a Summons from a Court of Instance

If you receive a summons bearing the new name, our advice is the same as always:

1. Identify in what capacity you are being summoned: witness, injured party or suspect. The summons must state it, and your rights and obligations depend on it.
2. Do not ignore it: the change of name takes nothing away from the validity or the effects of the summons.
3. If you are summoned as a suspect, do not attend alone: contact a criminal defence lawyer before the appointed date. You have the right to know the facts attributed to you, to confer privately with your lawyer and to remain silent; the first statement shapes the entire defence strategy that follows.
4. Gather the paperwork you already have (complaint, previous summonses, case file number): it will help your lawyer locate the case and check its status quickly.

Our firm handles criminal defence at every stage of the proceedings, before any Section of the Courts of Instance and before the Provincial Courts. For a broader view of the reform, you can read our analysis of Organic Law 1/2025 and its criminal impact.