The object of the institution of the Civil Registry is to publicise and cooperate in the statement of the facts and acts which occur during people’s lives.

Their competence, therefore, extends to the practice of the inscriptions affecting birth, civil marriage in its various forms, death and protection, as well as other legal representations.

The procedure for acquiring Spanish nationality is also initiated and processed in the Civil Registry, as well as that of international adoption; births and deaths are registered, even if this does not happen within the stipulated time period; change of name or surnames is also processed there, as well as the rectification of errors; declarations with the value of simple supposition may be made there, and the donation of live organs for transplant are authorized; documents are issued regarding facts of life, of being unmarried, of widow- or widower-hood, along with burial licences after the registration of a death.