LIVING FOR 3 MONTHS AT A TIME IN sPAIN

I concur 100% with John, the burden of proof is with the prosecution.  The Code civil des français is the French Civil Code established under Napolean in 1804.

Now we are getting onto an interesting subject ie Civil Law -v- Common Law.

I decided to keep my own name when I married my husband, partly because it's very important to me and partly because my name is my identity and I didn't want to lose it.  However, I'm so glad I kept it as it has proved a great help to be able to use either name when it comes to utility bills, purchasing online etc. 

BUT, what if I wanted to change my name to something I preferred....would it be that easy to change names on my bank account or, say, to pay my council tax.  Wouldn't they need legal proof before they would change it? 

Maddie there have been so many changes in banking laws since I retired, but I am pretty sure a Statutory Declaration witnessed by a solicitor/commissioner of oaths will suffice, however magistrates are reluctant to witness these documents.  Your solicitor would draw up the document for a charge.

Thank you both for such good and informative replies.  I have been calling myself Maddie for some time now as I don't like the name my parents chose for me. Luckily it's not TOO disimilar to the nickname they call me!  Now I know what to do to make it 'legal'.....

Maddie

It means you remain in Spain continuously, without leaving, for 3 months. If you leave at the end of that period, the clock does indeed re-start. The 'registration' rule is based on consecutive days, not cumulative.  On the other hand, tax residency is based on a cumulative period.

There is of course no 'proof' available in many cases given that passports are no longer stamped, and that you can simply drive  (or even walk) over the border without any checks whatsoever. The very worst (theroretically) that can happen to an EU Citizen is that they can face a small fine for failing to register. You cannot be imprisoned, or kicked out, or barred from entry. The fine is circa 300 Euros.

I should be grateful if anyone can point us to where that is explained in the Spanish Law, so that we really know and don't have to guess.

I thought these days you were considered to be" in" the country you go to bed in at night, so strictly speaking you would have to spend one night outside of the country to break the 90 day rule.

Yes that is one 'guess' but someone wanted to legally what the actual law was.

 OK, like Poppyseed I can't point at the line or clause in Spanish law, but I recall my late uncle having to count his overnights in both Spain and UK, for different purposes.  He was very wealthy and had a legal team and a finance team, one of whom probably COULD have pointed at the specific clause.

What my uncle had to check for his first few years (before he became formally resident under the previous system) was his overnights in Spain.  In later years he had to count his overnights in the UK, as he had become fiscally resident in Spain and his overnights in the UK were limited..

I'm not guessing, I'm adding information to the pool, enabling other people to build up a fuller picture.

Hi Tamara ,I once sent johnzx a link to the official Spanish tax website (in English) about allowable expenses against rental income and he still wouldn't fully accept it! He often refers to when he worked in the UK with the addition 'things may have changed now' which I interpret as 'this may or may not be a fact'......quite contrary methinks.

Although as you say we can't point to the exact Spanish legislation it is clearly stated on the HMRC website and that is good enough for me, unless one is a time traveller and can be in two places at the same time!

This message was last edited by johnzx on 08/09/2012.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 08/09/2012.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 08/09/2012.

I should be grateful if anyone can point us to where that is explained in the Spanish Law, so that we really know and don't have to guess.

With respect, it seems to me you are over-complicating something that is neither complicated, or, to my knowledge, is (or ever has been) in dispute.

The relevant sections you require are the Royal Decrees impacting upon the implementation of EU Directive 38/2004, and of course, Directive 38/2004 itself

All Spanish law does is implement that directive.

The directive itself is very clear on the topic. See Article 6.

Union citizens shall have the right of residence on the territory of another Member State for a period of up to three months without any conditions or any formalities other than the requirement to hold a valid identity card or passport.

Also see Article 7 which specifies the conditions for periods in excess of three months, and Article 8 which clearly states:

Absolutely no-one has argued over what "3 months" means. It means 3 months from the date of arrival. The three month period is defined as being 90 consecutive days.

Really, it is that simple. If you leave after, say, two months... then re-enter, the clock re-starts.

If you wish to check the case law. Here it is:

1. Directive 38/2004/EC (Articles 4, 5, 6, 7 and 27)
2. Schengen Borders Code (Article 7)
3. Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons, 21 June 1999
4. Judgement of the ECJ of 25 July 2002, Case C-459/99, MRAX vs. Belgium
5. Judgement of the ECJ of 17 February 2005, Case C-215/03, Salah Oulane vs. Minister voor Vreemdelingenzaken en Integratie
6. Judgement of the ECJ of 31 January 2006, Case C-503/03, Commission vs. Spain.

There is an FAQ published by the EU authoriries which provides some definitive answers on this (which confirms what I have said below), in plain English (or Spanish, if you prefer). The English version can be downloaded here:

ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/docs/faq.pdf