Applying for childcare maintenance for unmarried mothers and fathers

In the first few years of life, children need special attention from their parents.
If the mother and father are separated, one parent is usually solely responsible for caring for the child.
In this case, the other parent may be obliged to make maintenance payments not only for the child, but also for the caring parent. The same applies if neither parent was or is married. The prerequisite is that the caring parent cannot be expected to work due to the care or upbringing of the joint child.
This is usually the case during the first three years of the child's life. The caring parent's entitlement to carer's maintenance exists alongside the child's entitlement to child maintenance.

Amount of childcare maintenance

There is no fixed amount for carer's maintenance. Rather, the amount of maintenance depends on the circumstances of the individual case. The decisive criteria are the position in life of the person entitled to maintenance for their needs and the ability of the person obliged to pay maintenance.

As a rule, the requirement is at least EUR 1,200.

The prerequisite for a maintenance claim is that the person obliged to pay maintenance is able to pay.
The parent liable for maintenance is entitled to at least a deductible.

A distinction is made between

• the necessary,
• the reasonable and
• the marital deductible.

According to the Süddeutsche Leitlinien (South German Guidelines), the deductible in the case of childcare maintenance is calculated at an amount between the appropriate deductible and the necessary deductible.
At present, this is generally EUR 1,600 for employed maintenance debtors and EUR 1,475 for non-employed maintenance debtors, which includes costs for accommodation and heating of EUR 580.00.
Maintenance obligations to other entitled persons such as children, the spouse or the divorced spouse must also be taken into account.

If there are several dependants and the debtor is not in a position to provide maintenance for all of them, priority is given to unmarried minors and unmarried children up to the age of 21 as long as they live in the household of their parents or one of their parents and are in general education.
All fathers and mothers who look after children have second priority. This applies regardless of whether the couple was married or not. Spouses and divorced spouses who have been married for a long time are treated equally to caring parents.