Minimum child maintenance payments for separated parents in Germany are set to rise in 2023. Parents making minimum payments will have to spend an average of 50 euros and 50 cents more per month to support their child.
From the beginning of 2023, the amount of child maintenance that parents who are divorced or separated in Germany will have to pay to support their underage children is set for a sharp increase. In 2021 the increases in minimum payments ranged from around five euros to nothing, but this year there will be a notable rise in mandatory payment amounts, with the average increase being 50 euros and 50 cents a month.
Accordingly, children up to the age of six will be entitled to a minimum maintenance of 437 euros per month, an increase of 41 euros - a significant rise compared to the three-euro increase from 2021 / 2022. For children aged between six and 11, the minimum payment is increasing by 47 euros to at least 502 euros per month. For children aged 12 to 17, parents will have to pay at least 588 euros per month. Children above the age of 18 who are still in education will be entitled to 628 euros per month.
However, these are the minimum amounts and are adjusted upwards according to the parent’s income, following the rates laid out by the so-called Düsseldorf Table.
All courts in Germany use the Düsseldorf Table as a reference to determine maintenance obligations. All children in Germany are entitled to child support. If their parents separate, one provides maintenance in the form of room and board, while the other provides support in the form of money. Child support is fixed soon after the separation, at a rate agreed upon by both parents.
Single-parent families are entitled to child maintenance payments until the child becomes of age (at 18), leaves full-time education, or gets married. The parent paying maintenance can deduct half of the child benefit from their obligation, since this also counts as part of the child’s “income”. The maintenance payments are also deductible on the parent’s income tax return.