Sorry, per your reply and John’s, I’m the UK citizen and my wife is the German citizen. All the funds and income are in my name, in Spain, including from our forthcoming house sale. She has no income. My plan was to buy a house for cash from our joint account in her name, thereafter the assets are in my name. Ouch. Guess it makes this even more tough? You might just have uncovered a further flaw in our plan, for which I a
Assuming you are already close to that 1606 figure, my thinking would be to sell the house, put the money in a joint account. Then move to France, rent a house first, and apply while you have the cash in hand. They generally give some credit for cash in hand, but the length of the CdS might be limited (it could be as long as 5 years).
But…with the income-earner not being the EU citizen may be an issue. I would check the Facebook forums because I know it comes up often .
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Might be an idea to put sufficient finances into your wife’s name as she is the EU citizen. 
Thanks very much for this, sorry in my last message I wrote that I’m grateful for you flagging something I did not think of. Now I’m worried re: income mine and not my German wife’s (although easy to buy house via account in Spain in her name). We could follow your advice but we have 6 dogs and renting impossible (I’ve looked and asked for advice on this forum).
Regarding Facebook, I thought I had joined the best groups but would greatly appreciate it if you could recommend the best/right one. With many thanks!
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Thanks Stella, everything is joint right now, but you suggest putting it all in a new account in my wife’s name, right? That sounds good, but does not cover the income from my UK annuity, which is the income requirement, which has to be in my name. Climbing Everest here but I am sure one day I will be sending out the big thank you to the forum!
I was a little startled to read that your wife had no finances in her own name and couldn’t see how this would meet the French requirements.
If things are now in joint names, hopefully that will be OK
best of luck.
Thanks Stella and everyone. All this is why I am prepared to pay a lawyer! Last thing we want is to sell our house here in Spain, move then find out we can’t stay. It would ruin us.
Again, ask yourself what can a lawyer do at this stage that you can’t? Lawyers are useful when needing to appeal or in contentious decisions. For the initial stages they can’t magic money out of trees to make your finances look plumper - quite the reverse.
But this is the official guidance for your German partner. There is very little required and she doesn’t actually need to do anything or even get a residence card.
As for you, surely the £160,000 you have in liquid form you can placed so it earns some form of interest to top up your annuity? A solid dull saving account with several months’ interest statement could tip the balance.
And yes, renting is difficult with 6 dogs, but not impossible!
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This could be a challenge and is the exact reason I’ve asked for a carte de sejour under the withdrawal agreement, rather than as an EU spouse, since most of our income is from my pension.
I would suggest that you ensure that you have joint accounts and hope that they will accept bank statements rather than documents about income sources.
There’s really nothing that a lawyer can do for you that you can’t do yourself. It’s not unknown for lawyers to be more trouble than they’re worth and I’d suggest that should very much be your last resort. If you’re in the Facebook groups then you’ll know who to listen to by this point (and, perhaps more importantly, who not to listen to) and they’ll offer you good advice.
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Hi Matt. These are the most useful Facebook groups to join. Their guide are especially useful and you can search for previous queries using a question or key phrase. I agree that a lawyer would be a waste of money. 
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We’re in a slightly different situation as we both have British & Irish passports.
But I recall there was a thread on this subject entitled “Renewal of carte de sejour”.
If you go into the thread you’ll see there’s mention of cases where most of the income is in the name of the non-EU spouse.
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I can add very little to the sound advice already provided above, especially the use of joint accounts, , and the non-use of a lawyer.
I’ve just looked again at the EU Regs and the length of marriage is only really relevant in the case of the death/ divorce or annulment (where the Regs try to ensure the non EU citizen can still retain rights to live in the EU, subject to a minimum length of marriage etc). I’m hoping and assuming none of those criteria are remotely relevant!
I think the worst that would happen, re your family finances as others have suggested, is that France could ignore the 5 year legal duration of a CdS and give you a one or two year CdS, to be renewed at appropriate intervals.
Best of luck and do let us know how you get on.
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Thank you to everyone! Really helpful. So my game plan is now:
- Make sure joint account in Spain is in order with statements showing past annuity payments.
- Further research Facebook (thank you for the links)
- German Wife buys house with cash and goes to France, no issues per what I have read.
- I open a savings account WHEN I can in France (need address) but for now put 100k in my Wise account generating circa 1.6% interest which just about takes me to the income requirement (again, great advice)
- I do not hire a lawyer (I hear you!)
- Apply for CDS and pray.
You have all been super, really appreciate it, and yes I will be sure to circle back, although it may take some time.
Best regards and thank you, Matt
Make sure all your accounts in France are in joint names (and / or) otherwise getting access to money once one of you has departed this mortal coil could be an issue.
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If you still have a UK bank account, the NS&I direct saver offers 3.3% for the moment at least
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I get 3,73% gross in the Sterling part of Wise.
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Absolutely ! coming from UK years ago, we didn’t understand the implications and problems which can arise in France by having “Mr and Mrs” aaargh
Everything was swiftly changed and we can breathe a little easier.
“Monsieur… ou Madame…” hurrah
So do I - odd that the Euro rate is so much lower.
Could be worth moving the dosh into pounds for a while I would think, especially since the pound is down at about €1.15 at the moment.
Even if it dropped a bit more before you wanted to put it back into Euros you might still be better off given that they are paying twice as much interest on pounds.
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Here is another great Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/legalfia
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