I must admit this probably wouldn’t be my topic of choice but we have had a request to cover the subject of dying in Spain, which I suppose as we are living here will inevitably happen to one of us or someone close to us in the hopefully far distant future.
In the event of a death:
§ Call the police (Policia Municipal) – Tel: 092
§ Contact a doctor (if the police do not do this) who will certify the cause of death and issue a certificate of death.
§ A funeral parlour (tanatorio) will be contacted to remove the body (a form of identification must accompany the body in order for it to be removed)
§ Register the death within 24 hours at the Civil Registry (Registro Civil) which is located normally in the local town hall.
§ Usually in Spain a body should be buried within 24 to 48 hours of death
§ If death happens in a hospital the authorities normally take care of this process.
§ When the death registration has been completed a burial license is issued and a formal funeral can take place.
One of the questions we were asked was:- Do you need to have residency or as a non-resident would you need to be repatriated?
Death in Spain is a private business and does not depend on residency. You have the option of buying a grave in a cemetery (ask at your local town hall) and be buried there or you can be cremated. The nearest Crematorium in this area is in Granada (www.emucesa.es).
Spanish cemeteries have a system where a coffin is inserted into a recess or niche, this is actually rented for a pre-determined number of years, once that period has expired the body is moved to a common burial ground. It depends on the cemetery as to the prices, procedures, periods of time, etc.
The documentation needed to cremate a body are as follows:
§ Authorization from the Civil Registry or Court
§ Authorization signed by the closest relative and a copy of his/her DNI or passport
§ If the body needs to be transported from outside of Granada city, authorization is required to transport the body.
§ The body will not be cremated within 24 hours
There are many insurance companies that for a monthly fee (my
parents are 64 and 69 and pay 42 € a month for this service) this covers everything from the cost of the funeral to taking care of everything else even down to the flowers. I suppose it gives peace of mind especially if there are no close relatives nearby.
With regards to a Will (Testamento or Última voluntad), one signed in England is valid if translated and authorized here in Spain. However it is advisable to do a Will in Spain for your Spanish property and assets. This will make it much easier for your heirs. Without a Will your assets could be distributed to any number of relatives and if as the surviving partner there is no Will you could end up with nothing.
The law binding to the Wills signed by an English Citizen is the English Inheritance Law, as the Spanish Civil Code sets out that Marriage, Divorce and Wills, will be ruled by National Law. The English Law says that the binding Law is the Domicile Law and in the case of an English person living in Spain, the Spanish Law. But there have been many sentences from Spanish Courts saying that it is not possible to apply the Spanish Law to the properties settled in Spain and the English Law to the properties in England, therefore the Law that will be binding to inheritance of an English citizen is the English Law, his national Law.
Confused!!! Me too. I think I need to make a Spanish Will now, sooner rather than later!
Thank you to Victorio Heras Garcia who supplied much of the above.
There are many insurance companies that cover death and one of the more popular ones in Spain is www.santalucia.es.