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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 check eligibility
Are you receiving advance maintenance payments? The maintenance advance office checks annually whether all requirements for the entitlement to maintenance advance are still met.
Advance maintenance payment Communicate changes
You receive advance child support and there have been changes? Report them immediately.
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 temporary injunction (summary proceedings)
Personal custody includes the right to demand the child's surrender from anyone who withholds the child from the parents or a parent.
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.
Pursue maintenance claims against a person living abroad
To enforce maintenance claims against a person obliged to pay maintenance who lives abroad, you can obtain support from the local court. For the enforcement of child support, you can also make use of the assistance of the youth welfare office.
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.