Social Security authorities in Catalonia revoked a non-contributory disability pension and demanded repayment of €32,857.20 after finding that the recipient had spent a total of 680 days in Morocco between 2018 and 2021. In a ruling reported in April 2026, the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña (TSJC) upheld the decision, finding that prolonged absences from Spain and excess household income each justified ending the benefit.
The 77-year-old woman had received the pension since December 2013, with a monthly payment of €604.20 plus a supplement. She also received a Moroccan pension of €96.68 per month. The court-recorded absences were 135 days in 2018, 136 in 2019, 260 in 2020 and 149 in 2021, exceeding the annual allowance in every year examined. The authorities treated benefits paid from June 1, 2018, onward as improperly received.
Residency and Income Limits Breached
The ruling applied Article 10.2 of Royal Decree 357/1991, which governs the residence requirement for Spanish non-contributory pensions. Under the provision, continued residence is not considered interrupted by absences of fewer than 90 days in a calendar year. It also provides an exception when an absence is caused by duly justified illness. Reports on the case say the absences were not properly reported and were not shown to have resulted from a medically justified illness. The TSJC treated the residence breach as an independent ground for ending the pension.
The court also found that the woman’s household income exceeded the applicable threshold in 2021. The three-person family unit, with direct family ties, reported €73,291.08 against a stated ceiling of €33,835.20. Most of the income came from a disability pension received by the claimant’s cohabiting daughter, along with the claimant’s Moroccan pension. The court treated this excess as a separate basis for ending the benefit, regardless of the extended stays abroad.
Pandemic Restrictions Not a Valid Excuse
The claimant argued that COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020 prevented her from returning to Spain within the permitted period. The court rejected that explanation as sufficient to preserve her entitlement. Her absence that year lasted 260 days, well above the annual limit, and the ruling found that the pandemic argument did not displace the residence requirement. The woman had also exceeded the limit in 2018 and 2019, and again in 2021, outside the period directly affected by the pandemic restrictions.
Obligations for Pension Recipients
Recipients of non-contributory disability pensions must notify authorities within 30 days of changes affecting their residence or household finances. Travel abroad does not automatically end entitlement, but absences beyond the statutory limit or household income above the applicable threshold can lead to suspension or cancellation. In this case, the €32,857.20 recovery amount represents benefits the administration considered improperly paid, not the income ceiling. The pension’s cancellation took effect retroactively from June 1, 2018.
The case highlights the residence and income conditions attached to Spain’s non-contributory disability pension, a benefit intended for people with limited resources and subject to statutory eligibility requirements. Spanish law also requires formal tax declarations for gifts within families, as discussed in this analysis of tax obligations on family gifts. For people receiving non-contributory pensions, breaches of the rules, even if unintentional, can carry impressive financial consequences.
