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Apply for a maintenance advance for children of single parents

Are you a single parent and receive no or only partial maintenance from the other parent? You can then apply for a maintenance advance under certain conditions.

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Detailed description

You will receive maintenance advances for your child if you raise them in your household without another parent from whom the child is entitled to maintenance. However, this maintenance is not paid, or is paid incompletely or irregularly by the other parent or the person obliged to pay maintenance. The child's main place of residence must clearly be in your household. You must not have married a new partner. If the conditions for receiving the maintenance are met, you will be paid maintenance advances until your child comes of age. The amount of the maintenance advance depends on the amount of the minimum maintenance.

After the age of 12, your child is only entitled to maintenance if one of the following conditions is met:

  • You or your child will not receive citizen’s allowance.
  • The maintenance advance can prevent your child from needing assistance.
  • You have a gross monthly income of at least EUR 600.00 and receive supplementary unemployment benefit II.

This ensures that all children receive maintenance advance payments without interruption if necessary. At the same time, an important incentive is created for households that are not in need of assistance or that could become independent of basic social security benefits through their own income to secure their own livelihood. The maintenance advance payment is always paid out at the beginning of a calendar month and can be applied for retroactively for one month under certain conditions.

 

Information

Prerequisites

The following requirements for the approval of a maintenance advance must be met:

  • Child support is not paid or is only paid incompletely.
  • Your child has his or her usual place of residence in Germany.
  • The parent is a single parent (for example, also widowed).
  • The parent and child must live in the same household.
  • Foreign children are only entitled to certain residence permits.

Documents required

  • Application form

Depending on the individual case, additionally required:

  • the birth certificate of the child in question
  • the identity card of the single parent
  • For foreign children or parents: ID and valid proof of residence permit
  • the registration confirmation or registration information
  • the maintenance title: current maintenance determination, maintenance certificate, judgment, decision
  • If a marriage breaks up: divorce decree
  • If necessary, a letter from the lawyer about the time of separation
  • the current tax card • for unmarried parents: acknowledgment or determination of paternity
  • Proof of income via:
  • Child benefit
  • if applicable, half-orphan's pension
  • if necessary, maintenance payments
  • If necessary, approval/appointment notices for benefits from other maintenance advance funds in accordance with the maintenance advance payments law

Please note

There are the following notes:

  • Children between the ages of 12 and 18 are only entitled to a maintenance advance if the child is not dependent on SGB II benefits or if the single parent earns their own gross income of at least EUR 600.00 under SGB II.
  • The other parent must repay the maintenance advance to the maintenance advance office. If the person obliged to pay maintenance does not pay, the maintenance advance office can sue and enforce the repayment.

Deadlines

The maintenance advance can be approved retroactively for one month if the requirements were already met at that time.

Procedure

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Processing time

No

Fees

No

Legal remedies

• Objection (deadline: 1 month)

Legal basis

§§ 1 ff. Maintenance Advances Act (UhVorschG)


§ 1612a Paragraph 1 Sentence 3 No. 1 or 2 Civil Code (BGB)

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Last updated: 18.01.2025