Proof of existence

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
My OH has been asked to provide an 'Attestation d'existence' ( proof that he us in fact alive and kicking) for an official body in France.

Is this the sort of thing you get from the gemeinde/commune or does he need to go to a notaire?

The commune office doesn't open until this afternoon so I thought I would ask the combined wisdom of EF first. I will send him round to the commune office armed with his permi to ask this afternoon unless anybody here comes up with a better suggestion.

2
My Commune - Gemeinde, makes an attestation for about CHF 10,--

Tell husband to take passport with him, I am not sure if the permi is good enough.

3
I had to do the same for UK state pension. The ZKB (bank) did this free of charge - signing and stamping a form the Pensions Office supplied...

4
My husband had to do this for the UK authorities.

Suggestions were a lawyer, doctor, accountant, bank manager and pharmacist.

He went to our local Apotheke who happily signed his form, stamped it with their official stamp, no charge!

5
We went to the parish council offices. (Einwohnerkontrolle) The lass told us she had had masses of them to do recently. She knew what it was about and filled in the information quick as lightening. We needed to show our Swiss IDs (which had photos on, though mine doesn't look like me at all!) and that was it. Five minutes, free, and the job was done.

6
For UK pension we have to do this regularly. We take the form to our friendly 'Administrateur Communal' who laughs and signs the forms to state we are still more or less alive.

7
Seeing you need the services of a medical doctor to obtain a death certificate, shouldn't you also consult the same profession to prove the opposite?

If somebody can't be trusted to determine that you're dead, how can they be trusted to determine you're alive?

8
Do what they do with hostages, take a picture of him with today's newspaper

9
Ha ha, that's exactly what I suggested to my hubby!

10
Didn't "I think, therefor I am" settle the question back in 1637? Ok, there is the residual issue of defining sentience, but still.

11
Well it turned out to be a piece of cake.

He toddled off to the commune office ( since the only suggestion on the letter was the 'Mairie' we figured the commune was a good place to start)with the letter and permit in hand and the very nice lady there printed him off the attestation, stamped and signed it and handed it to him free of charge. She says they get asked to provide them all the time.

12

I had to do the same, I asked my doctor. What I don't understand is that 18 months ago I had to do the same thing and even visit a notary but there was an accompanying note from Newcastle saying that they had now connected to the Swiss AHV and that the Swiss authorities would contact them when things change.

13
Indeed. And one wonders if the criteria used to define 'existence' is standardised across different countries.

Clearly the authorities would wish to protect themselves against the sort of pension fraud, where a relative simply hauls dear old granny out of the deep freezer every now and then, to present to an official for the purpose of obtaining a certificate of existence, and thus ensuring the continuity of the pension payments.

But a definition of existence which requires an intelligent response from the receiver of the pension benefit may, however, in many cases, be too strict and penalise those who are less aware of their surroundings, or maybe simply having a bad day.

Maybe the ability to fog a mirror, or something similar, should be used to provide the basis of such a standardised existence test.