Savings measures: Draft: maintenance advance only up to 40,000 euros

Berlin. In the future, single parents who earn more than 40,000 euros a year can no longer expect the state to step in with advance maintenance payments if the other parent does not pay. This is provided for in a bill from the Family Ministry that has been voted on within the government, as Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) explained in a government survey in the Bundestag. So nothing has been decided yet. Changes are still possible before discussions in the cabinet and during subsequent Bundestag deliberations.

Support only up to 4,500 euros in gross income

Prien spoke of 40,000 euros of taxable income for single parents with one child. The limit moves up by 10,000 euros for each additional child. According to the minister, the lower limit is a gross monthly income of around 4,500 euros for one child.

She spoke of a good compromise. The central function of the project is to make more effective claims against the defaulting parent. "Children need maintenance, but of course primarily from their parents. I want to make that very clear," said Prien.

The federal government only gets a fraction of the money back

The state pays the maintenance advance for children of single parents if one partner does not fulfill his maintenance obligation. In 2024, the federal and state governments paid around 3.2 billion euros of this advance to single parents. The authorities were only able to get a small part of the money – around 17 percent – ​​back from the parents who were actually responsible for maintenance.

The Union and the SPD had agreed in the coalition agreement to put more pressure on parents liable for maintenance who do not pay in the future. Among other things, the following was stated: "In a first step, we will sanction defaulters on maintenance debts with harsher penalties, for example by revoking a driver's license, and thus increase the recourse rate for maintenance advances."