On November 14, the Spanish Congress approved a new law that included the repeal of the articles of Law 14/2013 on Entrepreneurs, which allowed the application for the Golden Visa. In other words, the Spanish Congress approved the elimination of the Golden Visa.

Now, this new law has to go through the appropriate parliamentary procedures, it needs the approval of the Senate, which has to approve it, and subsequently the law will have to be published in the BOE (Official State Gazette).

Once the law is published in the BOE, three months later, the law that eliminates the Golden Visa will begin to enter into force. We believe that we will have three months from the publication to continue requesting Golden Visas, a period that will end with the entry into force of the law.

We do not know the exact date, but we believe that it will be published before December 31, 2024, coming into force 3 months later. We recommend, however, doing so as soon as possible.

Please note, as we have told you, these are approximate dates, so take them with caution .

We advise you to take advantage of this last period to apply for the Golden Visas as soon as possible and, if you know someone who wants to apply for this visa, to inform them that they have little time to apply for it, but that they can still do so. We advise doing it as soon as possible.

At Bennet & Rey, we will keep you informed.

If your flight is delayed the European law 261/2004 establishes a list of minimum compensation:

After two hours the company must offer you food and drinks free.

After three hours you have the right to financial compensation between 250 and 600 euros. (It depends on the length of your flight. You have a right to 250 euros in short distance flights of less than 1,500 km.)

If the delay is for more than 5 hours, and you decide not to continue with the flight, you have the right to compensation:  the cancellation of the flight and the return of your payment. If you are in an airport to transfer to another flight you have the right to be taken back to your starting point.

If the circumstances have been caused by something out of the ordinary such as a terrorist attack or weather problems etc, they will not give the compensation. But note that there is a sentence of the European Court from April 2018 which indicates that strikes of employees of airlines are not considered as “extraordinary circumstances”.

If your flight is cancelled: the airline is obliged to offer you the cost of the ticket and return you to your starting point, or to take you to your final destination by a similar means of transport. Also food and drink must be provided depending on the length of the delay, and a hotel if you have to spend the night somewhere while waiting for the situation to be resolved. As far as the compensation goes, the amounts due are similar to those for delays.

And if they damage or lose my case?  You have right to receive up to 1,300 euros . You will need to provide proof of the damage and/or losses.

How do I apply for all of this?

To begin with (and if it is possible) we recommend that you go immediately to the counter of the airline with the ticket, either printed or on a mobile, and make your request. If it is not possible, we recommend that you use the web pages of the company to request this type of assistance.

This is not a simple matter but certainly a very interesting one from the point of view of international family law – an area in which Bennet&Rey are specialists and which definitely interests us. We would like to explain it in some detail, although it is rather complicated!

To summarise and to talk in general terms without going into specifics, – which could alter this, general information – you should go to the courts where the children have their normal home.

How do I know what counts as “their normal home”? That will be understood to be the place where they have lived more than 3 months, with other circumstances possibly relevant such as their being at school – and of course it depends on your not having taken the children illegally from their previous country of residence.

You must bear in mind that this is all about parental responsibility.

Since August 2022 the recent European regulation: EU 2019/1111, Brussels II-TER,  from the Council of Europe on the 25th June 2019 (which replaces the regulation EU 2201/2003-03- Brussels II-Bis) is applicable in Spain.

 The previous regulation (EU2201/2003) needs to be applied alongside the Hague Convention of 1996. Coordinating these two international measures has turned out to be complicated, in particular with regard to the rules of international judicial competence. But with the new reform in Regulation 2019/1111 and the Hague Convention 1996 for protection of minors, one general rule was formed concerning the international judicial competence with regard to the normal residence of the minor.

As a result, the place of residence of the minor has become a basic tool for deciding on international judicial competence.

If the minor or minors are in Spain, European regulation EU2019/1111, along with what is indicated in Article 97 will apply; but if the minors are in some state which comes under the Hague Convention and which is not a member of the European Union, the Hague Convention will apply, which strengths the protection of such minors.

At Bennet &Rey we welcome this double judicial protection with reference to minors.

Given the complexity of working out judicial competence, we recommend that you get professional advice before taking a decision. We will be pleased to help you in this. We recommend that you get professional advice before taking a decision. At Bennet & Rey, we will be pleased to help you in this.

This is a question which we are often asked. Until 2015 a divorce was not possible with a notary, and any divorce which was not mutually agreed or was contentious had to be resolved in the courts. But under law 15/2015 (passed on July 2^nd 2015) which regulated voluntary jurisdiction and came into force that every year, there was an important change: notaries could oversee a divorce as long as certain conditions are met. Therefore our reply is:

“Yes, you can divorce in the presence of a notary but only if the following conditions are met:”

–You need a lawyer as it cannot be done without the presence of a lawyer. Therefore you must find one, and you will need to have an agreement which has been drawn up according to the terms of Article 90 of the Civil Code

–The divorce must be by mutual agreement: i.e. you have to reach an agreement which you then put in a formal document. (If there is no agreement, you will have to go to a court.)

-More than three months must have passed since you were married.

-You can only do it if all the children of the marriage are older than 18, and there are no children with disabilities.

–Or you don’t have children.

-The competent notary is registered where one of the spouses is a resident.

How do I do it?

-You’ll have to find a lawyer to draw up the legal agreement for the notary to accept. When the agreement has been made, the lawyer will take it to the notary. It must be prepared carefully as the notary may reject it.

-If the notary accepts it, the notary’s office will fix a date for signing the divorce or separation, which will be recorded in a public deed/contract (the “escritura”) and which will contain the agreement which lays down the terms of the divorce.

-Once the contract has been signed by all parties, the notary will send it to the central civil registry.

The easiest thing always is for there to be an agreement between the parties. However, reaching an agreement normally turns out to be more complicated and needs advice and often the mediation of a lawyer.

If you have decided on a divorce and you want to do it following this process, please contact us.

At Bennet & Rey we shall be pleased to help you.

This is a situation which we have faced in our office as we are specialised in international family law: we put in a claim for divorce before a Spanish court and our client discovers that one has already been presented in some other country. The obvious question is: which is the valid claim: the Spanish one or the one in the other country?

According to Spanish law there is a legal process to solve this problem which is an “Excepción Declinatoria” (Challenge regarding Authority) which we use for these cases – as long as it is in our client’s interest!

So what does it involve? It’s a process to investigate possible reasons for “excepción” to determine whether the Spanish courts should be involved. If it is in our client’s interest, we will use it to say in the Spanish court that there is another claim already in progress in another country and that perhaps the Spanish court is not competent. This intervention then delays the divorce procedure in Spain until it is resolved by the Spanish Court.

So, who has priority? In general terms if a claim has been made in the court of some other country before the one, we make in Spain, the court in that country will have the right to act. But it is not quite so simple: for example if minors are involved, the rules of The Hague Convention will have to be taken into account; and also if those involved are European citizens.

This “excepción procesal declinatoria” has a time limit, and so we have to make sure that the request for it, is made within that time, and if we are defendants in a civil court in the written reply to the claim. It is then resolved by means of a judicial document called “Auto” which will decide whether the “excepción procesal declinatoria” is valid or not. When a response to the hearing has been made which resolves the dispute, there is then no right of appeal.

We hope that this has clarified the situation a little.

At Bennet & Rey we are experts in international family law and we will be pleased to help you in a matter of this kind. Please do not hesitate to contact us at: [email protected]

As lawyers we wish, as far as is possible, to EMPHASISE the danger of damage being done by the Taliban regime to rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10th December 1948. We also DEMAND:

-That those rights be respected in the case of women in Afghanistan.

– And we, citizens, and our politicians be prepared for the humanitarian crisis migration which probably is going to happen and that we all welcome in our countries our brothers and sisters from Afghanistan who decided to migrate.

What would happen if these days a group of men – say, Luis, Peter, Alfred or William – were denied the possibility of going to school, of studying in college or of being financially independent? And what if they were not allowed to give evidence in court, be active in the media, or even leave their homes on their own?

This could be happening to Fatima, Melissa, Delila, Amira, Farah, Yosefa, and Zurah – Afghan women now living under the Taliban – unless this régime should respect the rights that they have recently been able to enjoy.

At Bennet & Rey – although we have great respect for all religions and beliefs – we are certainly very concerned at the advance of Taliban forces and power, in particular because of the suppression of fundamental rights which this regime seems likely to impose with regard to one particular group of human beings, namely women.

And although there have been some initiatives and broad international support challenging this threat, we would like to see much more happening. We see public opinion as a fundamental source of pressure on this regime.

We are always being asked questions like this in our office: what is a NIE? What’s a TIE? If I have one, do I have the other? Is a TIE the same as a NIE?

At Bennet & Rey we are always here to help! So we’ll try to explain.

What is a NIE?

NIE (NÚMERO DE IDENTIFICACIÓN DE EXTRANJERO – “Identity Number of a Foreigner”)

It is your identification number – in Spain everyone is identified by an official, unique number.

What number will I be given  as a foreigner?

It will be a letter, followed by seven numbers, then another letter at the end: e.g. : X 0299991 Z, or Y 0203456 M

And if someone is Spanish?

If you are Spanish, you have eight numbers followed by a letter: e.g. 50777333B

Is it true that there are two different types of NIE – for residents and non-residents?

Yes, it’s true.

What is a non-resident NIE?

You need it if you do not live in Spain but you want to be involved in some kind of financial activity – e.g. buying a house or giving money to your children. To obtain this you have to apply for a non-resident NIE. This will then let you make individual transactions, BUT it does not allow you to be resident in Spain.

It consists of a piece of white paper, with no photo!

What is a resident’s NIE?

When you apply to live in Spain the authorities give you a NIE number (unless you alrady have one!).

Is the format of the number the same as for a non-resident NIE?

Yes. (So, if you apply for a non-resident NIE and later change it to a resident’s NIE,  the number stays the same.) The difference is that with the non-resident number you cannot live in Spain. With the resident’s one, you can!

Will my NIE always be the same? Yes.

We hope that it’s clear what a NIE is!

TIE  (TARJETA DE IDENTIDAD DE EXTRANJERO – “Identity Card of a Foreigner”)

What is a TIE?

It is a card. It is the physical proof of your NIE as a resident – a plastified card (or previously a piece of paper or a card) where your TIE is printed. If you are not a resident, you just have the piece of paper – no TIE, no card!

What is there on a TIE?

Your TIE will have your photo, your basic personal details, a registry number (top right) and your NIE number.

Is there any difference between the TIE card of UK citizens after Brexit and those of other foreigners?

The TIE of a UK citizen will say that it is subject to the BREXIT agreement, and it will have a photo for identification purposes. It looks rather like a driving licence.

By the way you now don’t need to carry your passport for purposes of identification in Spain. Your new TIE will do!

Remember: ‘TIE’ begins with T – because it is a Tarjeta!

We hope that this helps! At Bennet&Rey we are here to help you!