Tag Archives: insurance

Inheriting in Spain

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The death of a loved one is always traumatic. Even more so if, as well as having to deal with the loss, you are the heir and have to go through a lot of complicated administrative procedures. Such red tape, a challenge everywhere, becomes an even bigger one when you live in a different country to where the estate of the deceased is located, or when their countries of residence and nationality are different.

In Europe, to initiate the transfer of ownership of the deceased’s property to your name, the first thing you need is a death certificate officially certifying the death. You get this certificate from the civil registry. For this certificate to be recognised in another country (e.g., for when a foreign national dies outside of Spain while owning property in Spain), it needs to be valid internationally, which can be attained with an official Apostille stamp.

In Spain, as well as certifying the death, you also have to certify the existence or absence of any wills executed in Spain. To do this, when you have the death certificate, you need to request a certificate from the Ministry of Justice’s General Register of Wills. If a will was executed in Spain before a Spanish notary public, the General Register will inform you before which notary public and on what date the deceased signed the will in Spain. As it is easy to be unaware of the existence of a will, the General Register of Wills is a great help and a way of protecting our rights. It also serves to certify when no wills have been executed in Spain.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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New comprehensive Advisory Service for Property Owners

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Owning a real estate property is a big responsibility. To protect your rights as an owner, your property must meet all current legal and technical requirements. To give you the peace of mind that your real estate property does meet these requirements and is fully protected legally — both now and in the event of any change in the law — Tarraco Iuris law firm would like to offer you its comprehensive advisory service for property owners.

Based in Tarragona, our specialist team of lawyers and technical experts are ready to handle all your properly-related legal and administrative needs, including the handling of any mediation process and other procedures and the drafting and lodging of documents for the Spanish authorities (local councils, provincial and regional governments, the cadastral register, the Land Registry, notaries public, the courts, etc.) or any third parties (adjoining property owners, neighbour associations, the community of owners, entities involved in expropriation processes, etc.).
To legally protect your property in Spain, we offer a complete range of technical and legal services that includes:

1. Helping you obtain a NIE (foreigner ID number required for tax purposes in Spain).
2. Drafting all property-related contracts, including preliminary, option-to-buy, purchase and sale, and lease agreements.
3. Verifying property charges with the Land Registry.
4. Verifying property zoning with the local council.
5. Verifying any debts owed by the seller to the Community of Owners.
6. Verifying that all tax due on a property has been paid (municipal property tax, tax on income from real estate property, etc.) and drafting and presenting any corresponding tax declarations.
7. Providing an estimate of taxes and expenses so you can budget for the cost of transferring a real estate property.
8. Verifying the applicable marital or inheritance law and advising you on the legal conditions for purchasing or transferring a property.
9. Drafting title deeds for executing property transactions.
10. Accompanying you to sign title deeds and any other notarial instruments, acting as advisers and/or translators.
11. Assisting your negotiations with the bank for using the property as loan security.
12. Registering title deeds with the Land Registry.
13. Informing the local council of a change of ownership for the purposes of local taxes and fees.
14. For sales by non-residents, preparing and presenting declarations on tax withheld for Spanish income tax and handling the collection of any refund.
15. Preparing/lodging applications for:
    a. Certificate of occupancy and energy efficiency certificate.
    b. Building technical assessment report.
    c. Certificate of structural soundness and certification of construction age.
16. Plans and topographical surveys.
17. Undertaking boundary demarcation and mediating in conflicts with neighbours.
18. Undertaking historical investigations on properties and updating the cadastral record for divided or joined plots.
19. Advising you on:
    a. Utility connection and the possible use of wells and springs.
    b. New construction, reform or landscaping projects.
    c. Business projects.
    d. Road and path refurbishment.
    e. Land and building assessment.

Are you sure that your property does not run any legal risk?

Do not hesitate to contact us for further information. Please contact us for any service you require that is not listed.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Your legal adviser in Spain

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Remote working from Spain

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Remote working is not a passing fad caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a way of working that has so many advantages that it will become entrenched in society. I have clients who visit Spain on a regular basis for holidays or to enjoy their retirement. Now more and more of them are considering living here permanently, working and enjoying life by the beach at same time.

Over a year ago, before we’d even had a hint of the coming pandemic and the social changes it would bring, we published an article on our blog on the possibilities and legal risks of remote working. In this article, we concentrate more on the international aspects of this work situation. We’re specifically going to look at the legal problem arising when someone works remotely in one country, Spain, for example, when the recipient benefiting from their services is located in another country. Germany, for instance. This is an increasingly common scenario. There are even local councils and companies in Spanish tourist areas promoting the idea of “holidays all year round”, where the worker is offered the opportunity to enjoy their holiday paradise while meeting their work obligations during part of the day.

But when we provide our services remotely as an employee or a self-employed person and our habitual residence is in one country while the client or employer we are providing our services to is in another, what labour legislation and social security system are applicable? To answer these questions, which always depend on the timeframe, several agreements have been reached in the European Economic Area that essentially require workers to be able to demonstrate via an internationally valid document which national social security system is responsible for their situation and the payment of their contributions. When in this scenario, we must take into account the applicable situation and get expert advice to make sure that we are meeting our tax, labour and social security obligations at all times required by the legislation of the country in question. Cases can vary a lot, and you always need professional advice to make sure you are abiding by the law.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Your legal adviser in Spain

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Professional services for pensioners residing abroad

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When you stop working, it’s time to enjoy your pension. But what happens to your pension if you decide to retire abroad? To receive a pension in Spain as a foreign resident, you need to take into account a range of matters that can turn out to be quite complex.

Spanish pension laws are extremely complex, although this legislation is not applicable to Spanish residents receiving a foreign pension. In this case, you are covered by bilateral social security agreements. In Spain, the Social Security (“Seguridad Social”) takes care of social welfare matters.

One typical situation is migrating when you’re already receiving a pension in your home country. In this case, you need to know what to do to make sure you keep receiving your pension abroad. To start with, you need to submit a number of documents to the social welfare authority in your home country.

You may also need to demonstrate that you are still alive and entitled to receive the pension. Any hitch regarding this matter can result in a stoppage of the payments and can cause serious problems for you as an overseas pensioner.

Another complex situation entails when you have worked most of your life in your home country but now work abroad and plan to stay and live in this foreign country during your retirement. In this case, you need to calculate the most beneficial option according to the applicable international agreements for the periods worked in the two countries.

This situation can vary greatly and can give rise to very complex scenarios because of differences between the legislations of the different countries regarding the minimum retirement age, the minimum amount of years worked required, requirements regarding non-contributory pensions, etc. Ideally, you need to get professional advice when making decisions about such important matters regarding your working life.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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The advanced healthcare directive: help your family make the decisions you would want

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If you become incapacitated, your loved ones may have to decide what medical treatment you should get and whether to turn off life-support. You can make these decisions easier for them by leaving an advanced healthcare directive, also known as a living will.

Who will decide for you if you become incapacitated owing to illness or injury? You can sign a document before a notary or witnesses that designates who will make decisions on your behalf and talk with the healthcare professionals who carry out these decisions. You can also state the personal criteria that should be taken into account for making these decisions, when, owing to your physical or mental state, you cannot directly express you will.

These personal criteria can refer to, for instance, your wishes regarding life quality in terms of your level of pain tolerance or functional independence. You can also specify where you want to spend your last days and in what health situations the personal criteria apply (dementia, irreversible illness, etc.).

Once you’ve specified who decides for you, the decision-making criteria, and when and why decisions should be made, you can give instructions on the health procedures you want carried out. For instance, you can request that your life not be uselessly prolonged by artificial means. In your living will, you can also state if you want spiritual care in your last moments and if you want to donate your organs.

In Catalonia, to facilitate the access of doctors to this personal information, the advanced healthcare directive can be registered in the Department of Health’s Register for Advanced Healthcare Directives. By registering the document, it is included in medical history shared with patients. This information can also be accessed by authorised professionals elsewhere in Spain.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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When a loved one passes away, how do we know if we are beneficiaries of a life insurance policy taken out by them?

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Many people aren’t sure of how many life insurance policies they have. And the beneficiaries of these policies are often even less likely to know about any benefit they may be entiled to. Therefore, there is a risk that a family member may spend years paying for life insurance with us as the beneficiaries for which we don’t receive the payout.

Because over our lifetime, we end up taking out a lot of life insurance. Not just with insurance companies but also banks and financial institutions, which, rather than offering it to us, require it for taking out loans. Sometimes life insurance is included free with other services, usually financial services.

In Spain, to safeguard against this risk, the Ministry of Justice created the Register of Life Insurance Coverage. This register provides information on whether a deceased person had any life insurance taken out and with which company so that possible beneficiaries can contact the insurance company in question to find out if they were designated as beneficiaries and claim any benefits they may be entitled to under the policy from the insurance company.
This public register is accessible to anyone wanting information on whether a deceased person had a life insurance contract and on the insurance company providing the policy. You can access the records of this register only after someone has died, from 15 days after the date of death, by providing proof of the death. The records are accessible for five years.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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Inheriting abroad (2)

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In our last post, we spoke about the first steps you need to take when you accept an inheritance as a foreigner in Spain. Today we’re going to look at a very topical matter: which authorities determine who the heirs are. Because, as of summer this year, the authorities of the country of usual residence will be responsible for this, which marks a change from the law in force until now in most European countries.

Around a year ago, we spoke about the important legal changes coming into effect in August 2015 regarding foreign inheritance in all EU countries with a few exceptions in the cases of inheritances of United Kingdom and Denmark nationals ( http://blog.tarracoiuris.com/en/?p=212 ). After this change, the authorities in the country of residence will usually determine the heirs. And, where no will exists stating otherwise, these authorities will apply the law in force in that country. For instance, for a German national residing in Spain at the time of their death, it will be Spain, in accordance with Spanish law, that will determine who the heirs are by applying Spanish regulations. Until now, the German authorities did this by issuing a certificate of inheritance (applying German law) in such cases. So, from when the new EU regulations on the European certificate of succession come into force, the situation will be the complete opposite.

In Spain, once you have established via the competent authorities that you are the legitimate heir, you need to — especially in the case of property inheritance — sign an Acceptance of Inheritance before a notary public. This is an official notarial document that you can use as proof of title for the banks, the Land Registry, the cadastral register, the vehicle register, etc. But before you can use this document to transfer the deceased’s property to your name, you have to pay any tax due on it, either to the regional tax authorities, if you’re a resident, or the national ones, if you’re not.

As all these procedures are very complex, you really do need the help of an expert for the entire process.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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New Comprehensive Advisory Service for Property Owners

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Owning a real estate property is a big responsibility. To protect your rights as an owner, your property must meet all current legal and technical requirements. To give you the peace of mind that your real estate property does meet these requirements and is fully protected legally — both now and in the event of any change in the law — Tarraco Iuris law firm would like to offer you its comprehensive advisory service for property owners.

Based in Tarragona, our specialist team of lawyers and technical experts are ready to handle all your properly-related legal and administrative needs, including the handling of any mediation process and other procedures and the drafting and lodging of documents for the Spanish authorities (local councils, provincial and regional governments, the cadastral register, the Land Registry, notaries public, the courts, etc.) or any third parties (adjoining property owners, neighbour associations, the community of owners, entities involved in expropriation processes, etc.).

To legally protect your property in Spain, we offer a complete range of technical and legal services that includes:

1. Helping you obtain a NIE (foreigner ID number required for tax purposes in Spain)
2. Drafting all property-related contracts, including preliminary, option-to-buy, purchase and sale, and lease agreements
3. Verifying property charges with the Land Registry
4. Verifying property zoning with the local council
5. Verifying any debts owed by the seller to the Community of Owners
6. Verifying that all tax due on a property has been paid (municipal property tax, tax on income from real estate property, etc.) and drafting and presenting any corresponding tax declarations
7. Providing an estimate of taxes and expenses so you can budget for the cost of transferring a real estate property
8. Verifying the applicable marital or inheritance law and advising you on the legal conditions for purchasing or transferring a property
9. Drafting title deeds for executing property transactions
10. Accompanying you to sign title deeds and any other notarial instruments, acting as advisers and/or translators
11. Assisting your negotiations with the bank for using the property as loan security
12. Registering title deeds with the Land Registry
13. Informing the local council of a change of ownership for the purposes of local taxes and fees
14. For sales by non-residents, preparing and presenting declarations on tax withheld for Spanish income tax and handling the collection of any refund
15. Preparing/lodging applications for:

a. Certificate of occupancy and energy efficiency certificate
b. Building technical assessment report
c. Certificate of structural soundness and certification of construction age

16. Plans and topographical surveys
17. Undertaking boundary demarcation and mediating in conflicts with neighbours
18. Undertaking historical investigations on properties and updating the cadastral record for divided or joined plots
19. Advising you on:

a. Utility connection and the possible use of wells and springs
b. New construction, reform or landscaping projects
c. Business projects
d. Road and path refurbishment
e. Land and building assessment

Are you sure your property is fully protected legally?

Do not hesitate to contact us for further information. Please contact us for any service you require that is not listed

Tarraco Iuris global management

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The relationship between children and beneficiaries of life assurance

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Life assurance policies taken out in Spain are subject to Spanish law, even if both the policy holder or insured party and the beneficiary are foreign nationals.  The law rules how the designation of a particular beneficiary must be interpreted.

According to the law, if a person’s children are designated the beneficiaries, it is understood that by ‘children’ what is meant is all descendants with a right of inheritance.  However, if the designation favours the heirs of the policy holder, the insured party or any other person, the ‘heirs’ are those who are considered as such at the time the insured party died.  In this provision, the law distinguishes between children and heirs with regard to the beneficiary of the insurance policy.  While the heirs must be the universal successor of the deceased (usually the policy holder) at the time of their death (in the case of life assurance, the policy holder and insured party are usually the same person), the children are the beneficiaries irrespective of whether or not they are the universal successors of the policy holder or insured party.  Beneficiaries who are simultaneously heirs (by way of a will or legal ruling) remain as such, even if they reject the inheritance.

If several beneficiaries are appointed, in the absence of a more detailed designation the sum will be divided into equal shares.  If the heirs are appointed the beneficiaries, the division will be carried out according to their share of the inheritance.  Shares which are not accepted by one beneficiary are divided among the shares of the other beneficiaries.

Acceptance of an inheritance is not required for the acquisition of an insurance payout.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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The relationship between heirs and beneficiaries of life assurance

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Heirs are persons upon whom, according to the law or a valid will, the rights of the testator are conferred after the testator has died.  However, when taking out life assurance, the beneficiary of the insurance payout can be freely chosen, regardless of the inheritance.  The inheritance is bound to the nationality of the testator, while a life assurance policy taken out in Spain is subject to Spanish law.   

It can happen that the sum a beneficiary receives from a life assurance policy is worth more than the total estate.  Taking into consideration the importance of regulating the transfer of assets with regard to an inheritance by drawing up a will, it soon becomes clear that the choice of beneficiary of a life assurance policy should not be disregarded, as the amount of insurance paid out following the death of the policy holder does not generally form part of the estate.

Regardless of the heirs, the holder of a life assurance policy may choose the beneficiary at their own discretion, or change a previous choice without needing the consent of the insurer.  Designation of the beneficiary can be given either in the ‘police’, in a later written declaration disclosed to the insurer, or in the will, where in the latter case all the details needed for the identification of the insurance policy must be given.
The insurance payout only becomes part of the estate if no specific beneficiary was designated at the time the policy holder passed away, and if there are no arrangements in place with which to determine the beneficiary.  In all other cases, the beneficiary receives the insurance payout, irrespective of the whereabouts of the inheritance.  This fact is of particular interest if acceptance of the inheritance is bound with a large number of liabilities, or there is a dispute between heirs.

Carlos Prieto Cid – Lawyer

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