General legal questions

Hello Aida,

That's great and very kind of you!

Thanks a lot for the help

Cheers,

Yoginee

Expat.com team

@Yoginee Thank you for your very kind message!

Spanis legal procedure necessary if you have dual nationality:

Hello everyone,

To encourage you to ask legal questions on this forum about your legal situation, today I briefly inform you about the Spanish legal procedure if you have dual nationality (Spanish and American nationality, or Spanish and European nationality,…).

For those who have Spanish nationality and live outside of Spain, the Spanish Civil Code establishes the obligation that they must declare before the Civil Registry that they wish to keep their Spanish nationality. This declaration must be made within 3 years of obtaining the second nationality.

It is an apparently simple Spanish obligation, but if no one tells you, you do not know it and do not make the declaration, the Spanish nationality will be lost, and then it will be very difficult to fight before the Consulates and Spanish Courts.

I will be happy to help you if you have any questions

@AidaLaw Hi - thanks for offering your support - I have a question:

I was a victim of a violence crime in Andalucia. I'm not a citizen or a resident in Spain.

The case went through the courts (took forever...) but in the end the judge ruled that I'm entitled to compensation from the attacker.

The court called me to get the compensation - at the time I was working nearby - so I arrived physically to the court.

When I got there they gave me only 20% of the sum (with papers I can cash at Santander bank) - they said that the attacker is making payments due to his financial condition.

I asked them if to collect the rest I will need to come everytime, and they said they can send it to my bank.

However, after getting my bank details, they claimed they cannot send it to any bank outside Spain.

The problem is that I don't have an account in Spain - and also I'm not travelling that much to Spain anymore. And to go there just to collect the compensation can be more expensive than the compensation itself... (flights, hotels etc.)

Is it true that they can't send to any bank outside of Spain? And that there is no other way?

It just doesn't make any sense to me - because if a foreign resident (which typically doesn't have a Spanish bank account) is entitled to a court-ruled compensation - they have to fly over to Spain to get it???

I'd appreciate your help - thanks!

@Ex-ES-expat

Some of the new ebanks support different currency accounts with local IBANs. I think N26 is pretty easy for Austrian residents, and can provide a Spanish IBAN. Perhaps this would be acceptable to the court?

@gwynj Thanks, I checked N26, and in the registration process they ask for a home address, and I don't have one... If I understand correctly they even send the debit card there, so it better be a real one.

@Ex-ES-expat

A home address is a standard requirement for all banks (KYC/AML).

I find not having a home address to be a pain. Even in my days as a rootless traveller, I pretended to have a home address in UK (my parents' house) and in USA (a mail drop office). I still have bank accounts, credit cards, and credit references with these addresses, 20 years later.

@Ex-ES-expat Thank you for your message.

Firstly, in Spain, criminal and civil proceedings in the Courts are very different. I am a lawyer specialised in civil cases, both in court and out of court. However, I can give you some general advice on your question, on the possibility of receiving payments from Spain to a foreign bank account, located outside of Spain. I will send you a private message in 1 minute