Document Forgery Lawyer

Document forgery is one of the most complex offences in the Spanish Criminal Code because it intersects with almost every economic, administrative or procedural activity. Forgery crimes protect "public faith": society's collective trust that documents reflect reality. When that trust is broken —by altering a signature, manipulating an invoice, fabricating a certificate or presenting as genuine a document that is not— the State reacts with penalties ranging from fines up to six years' imprisonment. Supreme Court case-law is clear: not every inaccuracy is a crime; only the deliberate mutation of truth, with intent to deceive and capacity to affect legal traffic.

The Criminal Code distinguishes four categories of document, each triggering a different sanction. Public documents (Art. 390) are those issued by a public official in the exercise of their functions: notarial deeds, judgments, administrative resolutions. Official documents (Art. 392) are those issued by the Administration with probative value (ID, passport, medical prescriptions, academic records). Commercial documents (also Art. 392) cover business accounting and trade paperwork: invoices, delivery notes, cheques, promissory notes, balance sheets. And private documents (Art. 395) are signed between private parties without a public officer's intervention: contracts, receipts, correspondence, emails.

The methods of commission are listed in Art. 390.1 CP: altering essential elements of a document; simulating a document so it appears genuine; suggesting the intervention of persons who did not take part; or lying when narrating facts. To these is added the use of a false document (Arts. 393 and 396), which punishes whoever knowingly presents a false document, even if they did not forge it. Penalties are graduated: forgery by authority or public official in a public or official document carries 3 to 6 years' prison, 6 to 24 months' fine and 2 to 6 years' absolute disqualification. Forgery by a private individual in a public, official or commercial document carries 6 months to 3 years' prison and fine. Forgery in private documents, when made with intent to harm a third party, carries 6 months to 2 years' prison.

Technical defense in document forgery rests on four recurring axes. First, forgery suitability: the altered document must have real capacity to deceive; so-called "innocuous" or "crude" forgeries —imitations so gross that no one would believe them genuine— are not punishable under settled case-law. Second, intent: the subject must know and will the alteration of truth; mistake of authenticity excludes criminality, and here handwriting, computer or document-scanning expert evidence is decisive. Third, material unlawfulness: not every lie written on paper is forgery; it must affect essential elements and endanger public faith. Fourth, concurrence of offences: forgery rarely appears alone; it is usually instrumental to fraud, punishable insolvency or tax crime, and the qualification of the concurrence (instrumental or real) determines the final sentence.

In forensic practice we see a steady rise in digital forgery cases: PDF editing with graphic software, scanned signatures pasted into contracts, screenshot manipulation, alteration of email metadata and, more recently, document deepfakes. Organic Law 1/2025 on Justice Service Efficiency and case-law on electronic evidence have consolidated criteria on digital chain of custody, hash, time-stamping and computer expert reports —all essential to articulate both prosecution and defence. At Alonso Sala, our criminal lawyers specialised in document forgery intervene from the investigation phase to challenge expert opinions, raise evidentiary nullities and build solid exculpatory narratives. We treat each file with the diligence demanded by a criminal offence carrying imprisonment and serious collateral consequences: loss of professional licenses, administrative disqualification, removal from the commercial register and lasting reputational damage.