Separating if you have a child

There are numerous questions associated with separating or divorcing if you have children. What support is available to separated parents or lone parents? What do custody rights include? What do visitation rights include? Who can decide on what? What name do I use and what name does my child use? What happens if one of the partners remarries?

Services:

Advance maintenance payments Communicate changes

Do you receive advance maintenance payments and there have been changes? Report them immediately.

Advance maintenance payments Verification of eligibility

Do you receive maintenance advance? The maintenance advance office checks annually whether all the requirements for entitlement to maintenance advance are still met.

Advice and assistance in establishing paternity

You have or will have a child and the father of the child does not want to acknowledge his paternity or is unknown? Get advice on what you can do and who can help you.

Application for surrender of the child by way of a temporary injunction (summary proceedings)

Personal custody includes the right to demand the return of the child from anyone who withholds it from the parents or one of the parents.

Apply for advance maintenance payments for children of single parents

If you are a single parent and do not receive maintenance for your child from the other parent or only receive it irregularly, you can apply for an advance on maintenance payments.

Assertion of the right to maintenance of the mother of a child born out of wedlock

You, as a non-married mother, can claim alimony from the child's father on the occasion of the birth of the common child.

Child support

After divorce, children or the former spouses are entitled to maintenance.

Claiming child support in a faster, simpler court process

If you are separated as parents of a minor child, you can demand reasonable maintenance from the other parent.

Divorce

Here you will find information on divorce.

Guardianship

Here you will find information on court-appointed guardianship for minors.

Guardianship: appointing a supplementary guardian

Under certain circumstances, a supplemental guardian may be appointed in addition to the parents' custody of a child or youth.

Have maintenance claims notarized

If the other parent does not pay child support, you can get assistance from the Beistandschaft and have the obligation to pay child support notarized. The maintenance advance money office can help you directly financially and make an advance payment or substitute the maintenance.

Parental responsibility for minor children

Here you will find information on your rights and obligations regarding birth, child maintenance obligations in cross-border family situations, as well as information on surrogacy and adoption.

Pursuing maintenance claims against a person living abroad

To enforce maintenance claims against a person liable to pay maintenance who lives abroad, you can obtain support from the local court. The assistance of the youth welfare office can also be used to enforce child maintenance claims.

Receive advice and assistance on child support issues from the youth welfare office

You are a single parent and get no money or too little money from the other parent for your child? Then you can get advice and support from the youth welfare office.

Rules and recognition of marriage

If you would like to get married, you can find more information about your rights and obligations in the context of marriage and marriage recognition here.

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