Obligatory children: when do you have to pay child support?

You can’t choose your parents, they say. However, children may be required to pay maintenance for them. But don’t worry: the requirements for this are relatively high. The financial burden is also often manageable.

Even if they are not close, children may have to pay maintenance for their parents.

Children are entitled to maintenance from their parents. But the tide can also turn – then you have to pay for your mother and father. Because in the Civil Code (BGB) it says: Relatives in a straight line are dependent on each other.

"Legal ethicists still struggle to find viable justifications for legislation", tells Jörn Hauß, specialist lawyer for family law from Duisburg. Because unlike the spouse, children cannot choose their parents. "The children have economic losses for something they are not responsible for", says Hauß. But parents only come after children, spouses and grandchildren in the ranking of payment obligations. What children should know about the topic:

In what cases do children have to step in at all??

Basically, parents have to have enough money to be able to secure their livelihood. If this is endangered, the children may have to jump into the breach. However, they are only obliged to make maintenance payments if they have enough of their own income or a certain amount of wealth. The rule applies regardless of the age of parents and children.

Before the social welfare office writes to the children with demands, parents must use up all of their own reserves – they may maximum Keep 2600 euros as assets. Exception: If you own a house, you don’t have to sell it if you own it or relatives in it live, explains Martin Wahlers, lawyer from Darmstadt. The social welfare office can, however, charge the property with a mortgage or security mortgage, explains the author of the book "Parent support: children are liable for their parents".

What means the situation for families?

As a rule, this is an uncomfortable situation for everyone involved. "For most children it is a great stress factor to disclose their financial situation to the social welfare office", reports Hauß, whose law firm conducts up to 800 consultations on the subject annually. If parents have several children, all of them have to state their income – because the payment obligations are divided between the siblings according to their economic performance. "This can bring down some illusions when you find out how much your brother makes to yourself", says Hauß.

How much do children have to pay?

The social welfare office first checks the children’s income situation. The adjusted net income is decisive for possible maintenance obligations. Expenses such as home repayment rates are usually deducted from income, Wahlers explains. The rent is not included.

Children are also entitled to a minimum deductible – this is 1,800 euros for single people and 3,240 euros for spouses. The amount is deducted from the adjusted income. The social welfare office can claim half of the remaining amount as parental support. Wahlers gives a calculation example: If the adjusted income is 2900 euros, the deductible of 1800 euros does not apply. There remain 1,100 euros – the social welfare office can therefore demand 550 euros from the maintenance debtor.

"In 95 percent of the cases, carrying the extra load is not a problem", says Hauß. However, the payment obligation can be a painful cut for younger people. If you have to pay proportionately for the care of your mentally ill father at the age of 30, you can face financial difficulties.

When do children not have to pay??

If children can demonstrate violence in their upbringing or if they have been deported to foster parents, they usually do not have to pay. "This is usually already accepted by the social welfare agency", soothes Hauß. It becomes more complex when parents have not paid the child maintenance, inadequately or late. The parents’ entitlement to payments may then be forfeited in full or in part, Wahlers explains.

Unless: The parent could not make a living due to a mental illness, for example. Then the claim continues, as the BGH ruled (Az .: XII ZR 148/09).

Parents suffer disadvantages when children cannot pay?

Not directly. In Germany there is an almost uniform standard of care – the social security fund pays for it. "Whether the child contributes 0, 200 or 500 euros in maintenance does not affect the care", explains Hauß. The social welfare institution does not pay more than the minimum rate, Wahlers adds. If you want to offer parents more comfort, they have to take care of the maintenance themselves.

The children’s fortune is safe?

It depends. The house in which they live is protected. So is the car that the children use to drive to work. "However, everything else is vacant", says Wahlers. In principle, the children’s wealth is only checked when their income is insufficient for the maintenance payments. The children are also entitled to a certain amount of money – the exact amount depends, for example, on how much the children need for their own old-age provision.

Overall, Hauß estimates the risk that children will have to support themselves with their own wealth "very very low" on. It was therefore not necessary to build up reserves in the event of an emergency. The specialist lawyer advises: Everyone – both parents and children – should make provisions for their own age.

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