In this 1988 movie directed by Penny Marshall, Tom Hanks makes his breakthrough performance playing a twelve-year old boy who undergoes an overnight metamorphosis that gives him an adult body but leaves him with his decidedly preadolescent mind. What drives this comedy is the striking and hilarious contrast between his behavior as a preteen and that expected of an adult. I am reminded here of the expatriate experience, as I strongly believe that moving to another country effectively means starting a new life armed with the knowledge of a seven-year old. What saves foreigners from experiencing the catastrophes we see in the movie, however, is that they have an accent when they speak!

15-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
On Thanksgiving Day this year, I will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the creation of my column. Before its debut, I had a discussion during a dinner held at the American church in Paris with the Senior Editor of the Paris Free Voice, and we agreed to run a Q & A column addressing practical issues in a very practical way, thus avoiding legal language as much as possible. It took some time to agree on the format, editing process, and size of the column, but the first issue was finally published in March 2004 and featured short Q & As addressing topics similar to those I deal with today:

1. How is an insurance claim after a burglary handled?
2. Which office should be notified in the French administration when one moves back to France?
3. What are the normal conditions for opening a French bank account?
4. When can tenants give a one-month notice?

Each Q & A was only 100 to 150 words long, while the most recent issue, dated September 2008, features three Q & As that are as long as 660 to 1000 words each. The trend I have seen over the years is that the technical explanation alone is insufficient in helping one understand a problem and identify its solution; the reader must be given a larger context which takes into account the expected reactions of all the people involved and the consequences of actions taken.

Naturally a foreigner facing a problem automatically reacts according to his own cultural perspective. Unfortunately, this initial reaction almost always makes the problem worse, which in turn fuels a vicious circle that is difficult to break. Therefore, I think it is important to explain the human dynamic involved in any problematic situation to help prevent its deterioration and avoid the instinctive, culture-bound reaction that can be so damaging. YES, often a foreigner must act against his gut feelings in order to obtain and implement the right solution.

THE DANGER OF OFFERING SHELTER IN FRANCE
In last month’s issue, I addressed the subject of roommates and was asked an interesting question which I find worth sharing with you. Americans tend to have a strong sense of solidarity, easily lending a hand to a neighbor or stranger who is down on his luck. This urge to help significantly increases when the American lives in a foreign country like France, where such acts of solidarity are more infrequent. It is therefore quite common for Americans to host an acquaintance for a few nights, and normally everything goes smoothly. But in cases where the stay lasts longer and eventually becomes an unplanned roommate situation, trouble can start. Before long the visitor has acquired rights to stay in the home even against the host’s will.

How can this happen? Always keep in mind that in France everyone is entitled to an address, which in effect means lodging. A recent law was even passed that allows private individuals to sue the French local administration in court if it is proved that they cannot have access to a decent home in that town. Many legal scholars are questioning just how this law can be applied, given the complexity of the proof required as well as the vagueness of the definition of this right to decent lodging.

But the issue remains that a court can award a visitor the right to stay in his host’s home even if it is against the host’s wishes.

I have personally always admired the American people for this ability to be generous and trusting toward strangers. In an American context, the individual is, ideally, fully aware of the risks involved in such acts of generosity. But what French law is doing is adding an extra thick layer of liability without making it apparent. I fully understand how unfair this can appear to an American, but this clearly illustrates the fact that what is OK in one country is not in another. Living in a foreign country means drastically changing your natural reactions to tailor them to the new environment. In some ways, it is comparable to changing from a PC operating system to a Macintosh – overnight.

SPOUSAL RESPONSIBILITY IN PAYING FRENCH TAXES
A recent incident reminded me of how twisted the payment of taxes can be in France. I mentioned in one of my past issues, a woman going through a divorce and she has faced yet another trial: even though her husband had deserted the home, my client was obligated to pay the income tax due on February 15th and May 15th for the combined salaries of the household, since she was the only one left in France. If she failed to do so, she would be charged with penalties and interests. So, to keep the matter simple, she paid at the branch near their old apartment, with both payments recorded under her married name. In the spring she moved to her own place and subsequently made payments under her maiden name at a different tax office. At the end of August she received a summons to pay the taxes in full with penalties since no payment was recorded at her previous branch. How it is possible to write up a proper invoice and at the same time lose the payment for which it was written is beyond me. In any event, it took a fair amount of work to get these two offices talking to each other and set the record straight. I will spare you the details, but in the end she paid her taxes at the new office under her married name. Indeed, one way to avoid this problem is to keep using the married name, even if this is not the best way to address the issue. Another solution is to go to the Trésor Public branch of your new home and submit the information for the former account and name so that the transfer of file and funds is done properly.

NEW FRENCH WEBSITE lepetitjournal.com
The French expatriate community has a new website: lepetitjournal.com. It is targeted for French people living around the world and includes a multitude of information as well as access to other French media. I have spotted about thirty different versions of the site, as there is a different edition for each country that has a significant French expatriate community. This could be a good source of information for other foreigners living around the world as well. Information about foreigners wishing to move to France is also a regular feature.

Best regards,

Q & A

HANDLING THE PAPERWORK: CHOICE BETWEEN EMPLOYEE AND SELF-EMPLOYED

QUESTION
I registered as self-employed over a year ago in France and got the prefecture to change my status without much of a problem. I love being a teacher but feel that I am not a good business manager and therefore have strong doubts that I can make enough money to earn a living and renew my carte de séjour. I dream of working for an organization that would handle all the side aspects of working as a teacher so that I can concentrate on what I know how to do best. Would creating an association be the right approach?

ANSWER
The answer to your question is NO – creating an association would generate even more administrative tasks and red tape and therefore produce exactly the opposite of what you want. In short, you would have to deal with all the new paperwork related to the creation and upkeep of the association without having reduced your own paperwork one bit.

This said, I believe you were headed in the right direction when you were looking into this type of solution. Indeed, the best option would be to belong to an existing association, as long as some basic guidelines are strictly followed. You state that you do not feel competent in managing your business, and I take this to mean performing activities involved in the marketing, billing, and general administrative tasks. If you already know of an association that offers these services for a fee, then it could provide you with professional support while you concentrate on your courses. The first step here would be to address the fact that you would become an employee of this organization. In the USA, the distinction between employee and self-employed is rather insignificant and many people move back and forth between the two statuses quite easily. In France this kind of movement is exceptional, not to mention difficult, as there is more red tape.

In addition, it is very important for you to maintain full ownership of your courses, including your methods, names, and so on. In this way, if you ever need to leave the organization, you will retain the right to run your own business with all its assets and tools. Needless to say, you should choose only organizations whose management you know well and trust. Once you are an employee, all the payments made for your classes will bear the name of the association rather than your own. So, in other words, these people will get all your professional money. If they run off with it, your recourse is poor and your chances of getting your money back extremely slim. Without going that far, French taxes linked to the employee status are very complex and you will not be able to check if the amount withheld was legitimate. I cannot stress enough how critical the trust issue is here.

The second step is to find a fair balance between the extra charges you will be incurring and the benefits you hope to gain. You should not be paying for these services before they bear fruit. This means that the compensation should be a ratio of your sales, or, in other words, the association gets compensation if you make a good profit. A CPA or “expert-comptable” should be able to give you a rather reliable projection of your sales based on a few scenarios with and without advertisement. Keep in mind that once your level of sales is higher than the compensation the association receives for its work, you are basically dealing with pure profit. Therefore, your status and all the related services must be clearly stated in a rather comprehensive contract drafted by a professional specialized in the fields of labor law and intellectual property, and not simply by any kind of lawyer.

Finally, you might be faced with an immigration issue if you are holding a carte de séjour and not a carte de résident. This means that the “Main d’Oeuvre Etrangère” (M.O.E.) grants you the right to work as an employee and that the prefecture grants the related carte de séjour. I doubt that the M.O.E. will make it easy for you to get a positive answer out of them. Considering that a negative answer from the M.O.E. automatically means that you will receive a deportation order from the prefecture, you must be extremely careful if you choose to change your status. Should you have any concerns about this change, keep your self-employed status and define a similar level of service with the association through a business contract.

Good luck.

DEALING WITH A SATELLITE ACCESS PROVIDER

QUESTION
After having a subscription to Canal+ for a while, I now wish to cancel it. If needed I am ready to cancel the entire subscription with CanalSat. I found out that this is really not that simple.

When I called Canal+ they basically said, "Write us by registered mail and we'll let you know what we think and maybe we'll consider letting you cancel, and of course in the meantime we’ll continue charging you for our services by automatic withdrawals as long as we can, and longer than that if you don't notice."

When you check on the internet, there are several French forums devoted to the topic of "how to unsubscribe from...." TV operators and similar ilk. It makes for useful but depressing and highly nerdy reading. (Example: http://www.usenet-fr.net/fur/droit/resiliation-abonnement-satellite.html)

A French friend advised, "Just stop paying them," which is a terrible idea, since I am afraid they will just charge me for the full amount forever.

Why should a customer require a law degree to write a letter to get results the first time and avoid entering into a long, costly back-and-forth with an abusive monopoly that to American eyes is downright sleazy in its treatment of customers?

ANSWER
Since you are a regular paying client, you need to comply with all the rules and regulations that exist between your satellite provider, CanalSat, the specific network, Canal+ and you. The only legal solution is to look for the terms and conditions for canceling your subscription with Canal+ through your satellite provider. In France, the traditional way to do this is by sending a registered letter giving three months’ notice. This effectively means paying for four months.

Sometimes a shorter notice period is offered to the client to address specific situations. Moving out of the country is one of them, and indeed makes the process much easier. At the same time, I have never heard that such cancellation demands sent by registered letter are considered to be nonbinding by the provider. It does not have the right to evaluate whether your reasons are valid or not; in fact, you do not even need to give any reason unless you wish to get preferential treatment (i.e. a shorter notice period). Furthermore – and this is general advice I give everybody – it is wise to provide as little reason as possible for this type of thing. Too much information can give the company the opportunity to discuss and even challenge your decision.

What you would like to be able to do is cancel everything as quickly as possible. What you need to understand is that if you do not comply with the minimum time period for the notice, you will breech the terms of the contract and expose yourself to a liability issue. You could give the order to your bank to refuse all payment requests from this company for this new amount. However, as a consequence you would immediately be seen as defaulting on the entire payment, which could mean that you lose your access to all the TV channels. For obvious reasons, I advise you against this tactic. On the other hand, it is indeed a definitive way to handle the matter and you can save a significant amount of money if your bank does not charge you fees every time it refuses to comply with the payment request the provider makes. These fees are often overlooked and can add up quickly.

If done well, the best solution is to follow the regular procedure with CanalSat and at the same time contact Canal+ and inform them of the situation and your wish to cancel your subscription with them right away. My experience is that these channels are easier to deal with than the providers, despite the answer they gave you over the phone. The minimum you can hope for is that the paperwork takes less time and is fully secured in your hands. The best you can hope for is that the channel accepts your termination as a preferential situation, such as moving back to the USA, and releases you from all liabilities regarding this matter. Then the provider does not have any right to charge you for something that you do not owe.

The bad news with the providers is that they are known for continuing to get paid past the termination date and almost never reimburse the client for this money. By going to the channel directly and getting confirmation of the termination from them, you can argue to the provider that since you received the letter from Canal+, your subscription is fully terminated, and you can settle everything before the end of the notice period. This might seem like a small benefit, but the savings and peace of mind are truly worth the extra bit of work required.

On a further note, canceling an extra channel is always trickier than the above, and there is almost no way to twist the provider’s arm. Canceling the entire contract with the provider means going through several steps, which include sending the registered letter and returning their equipment. Playing hardball with them can be a solution provided that your bank makes it cheap and you know how to handle collection agencies!