Common questions about child support, Corona and child bonus

The corona virus drives many employees into short-time work or unemployment. Even self-employed people get into financial trouble. Does child support still have to be paid in this situation if the money is barely enough for the child's own needs?

1. How much is the maintenance?
2. What is the effect of a maintenance order??
3. Can the maintenance title be adjusted?
4. How it behaves with the maintenance without maintenance title?
5. How the child bonus affects the maintenance obligation?
6. Do I need to draw on my savings?
7. How much may I keep for my own needs?
8. What happens if I have less than the deductible remaining?
9. Summary

1. How much is the alimony?

The amount varies depending on the type of alimony. In the case of child support, the income of the person paying the support is decisive for the amount of support:

• With self-employed persons it depends on the average earnings of the past three years.
• For employees the average income of the last twelve months is decisive.

Corona-related declines in income are therefore taken into account here. Based on the income, the so-called. Dusseldorfer table the amount of alimony. Since 01, the minimum maintenance for a child has been.01.2020 up to the sixth year of the child's life 369 € and between the seventh and twelfth year of life 424 €. From the 13. 497 € per child is due before the age of 50.

Income is also the decisive factor for spousal support after a divorce. However, this alimony is still much more dependent on each individual case. However, a reduction in income due to Corona also reduces eligibility.

This also applies to parental alimony, which children must pay to care for their parents. This is also dependent on income.

In any case, regardless of the type of alimony, you should check (or have checked) to see if the amount of alimony payable has decreased anyway due to a decrease or absence of income.

2. What is the effect of a maintenance title?

A child support order is a document that regulates child support. This can take a variety of forms. The decisive factor is, above all, whether the person obligated to pay maintenance shows a willingness to cooperate in establishing the maintenance title. If so, an out-of-court approach is recommended. However, if the person liable to pay maintenance refuses to pay, only a court settlement will achieve the goal.

Essentially, there are the following out-of-court maintenance titles:

• Deed of the youth welfare office for children up to 21
• Out-of-court settlement between the person entitled to maintenance and the person obligated to pay maintenance
• Acknowledgement of the maintenance claim by the maintenance obligor before a notary public
• Deed of maintenance in the event of the birth of an illegitimate child (Section 1615l of the German Civil Code)

In the case of court-ordered maintenance titles, a distinction must be made above all between a court-ordered settlement and an order. In the case of a settlement, the court moderates an agreement between the person entitled to maintenance and the person obligated to pay maintenance. The court sets the alimony within the framework of an order.

The advantage of a court maintenance title is that further court disputes about maintenance are no longer necessary. This is different for the enforcement of out-of-court maintenance orders. In case of doubt, a court must decide here in the event of disputes or ambiguities.

In principle, however, the obligation to an out-of-court maintenance order exists irrespective of financial circumstances. Therefore, a lower income due to the Corona crisis does not automatically affect the maintenance title.

The situation is similar for obligatory payments based on a court maintenance order, because this obligation also continues to exist in the event of a drop in income. If the payment simply fails to materialize, enforcement can be pursued without detours from the maintenance title. The bailiff is thus directly authorized to seize items from your home. There is also the potential risk of wage or account garnishment.

Only in cases without a maintenance decree is it easier to change the maintenance payments. Because here the payment is made voluntarily without legal obligation.

Therefore, you should not under any circumstances simply stop or reduce payments when a maintenance title is present.

3. Can the maintenance order be adjusted?

It is possible to adjust the maintenance order to the changed income situation. However, this does not happen automatically if the Dusseldorfer table shows a lower maintenance due to the lower earnings. Rather, your income must have decreased significantly and permanently!

• Such a reduction is substantial if the monthly earnings have fallen by at least ten percent.
• With regard to the permanence, there is no clear indication of the time. However, a temporary short-time work of three months is probably not sufficient. In this respect, the overall economic situation of the maintenance payer is decisive. A change of the maintenance title can therefore also with sog. "close economic circumstances" take place. These are z.B. in the event of prolonged receipt of unemployment or sickness benefits before. A change of job associated with loss of income also falls into this category.

Under these circumstances, the family court may make an adjustment to the maintenance order after a request to that effect has been made. At the same time, it allows you to request a stay of foreclosure proceedings. However, this will only help you if the alimony to be paid exceeds the minimum alimony of the Dusseldorfer Table. Because according to unanimous case law, this minimum maintenance must be paid in any case (z.B. BGH, 22.05.2019, Az. XII ZB613&17).

The courts even require the person liable to pay maintenance to take up supplementary secondary employment or to draw on existing assets in cases of doubt. This is to prevent children in particular from suffering financial hardship from their parents. This also follows from § 1603 II BGB, which provides for a so-called. "increased maintenance obligation" towards children is determined.

It follows that the alimony payer must take every reasonable opportunity to ensure at least the minimum maintenance for the child. This special obligation only applies to minor children and sog. "privileged adults". A child is privileged adult if he is under 21 years old and unmarried. In addition, the child must be in school and live with one of the parents

If the person obliged to pay maintenance does not comply with this, a "fictitious income" is credited to him or her. This takes into account the living conditions of the alimony payer (z.B. age, health, education). It will be treated as if he is earning a decent income. This fictitious income is in turn used for the calculation of child support. This is to prevent the debtor from evading his obligation to pay by having a low income.

However, the person liable for maintenance must be able to be accused of not having made sufficient efforts for a better-paid job. In addition, this fictitious income must also be at least hypothetically achievable by the alimony payer. If these conditions are not met, the "increased maintenance obligation" does not apply. The child support claim is then only based on the actual income.

In times of Corona, doubts are justified whether a secondary job can actually be expected.

A lawyer is required for these proceedings at the family court. In addition, the procedure itself also produces costs. Nevertheless, the maintenance payer should not be deterred by these costs from filing an application with the family court.

If the financial means are not available, it is advisable to apply for legal aid at the family court. Then the court and attorney fees can be paid by the taxpayer. Alternatively, there is the possibility of applying for a loan in the amount of the costs.

4. What is the situation with maintenance without a maintenance title??

Without a maintenance title, there is at least the advantage that enforcement cannot be pursued directly. Nevertheless, the maintenance recipient has a claim to the payments. For this reason, payment should not simply be stopped in this case either. Admittedly, the person entitled to maintenance has to put in much more effort to get the money. However, in this way there is also the risk of subsequent payment of the maintenance not paid.

Therefore, a mutually agreeable settlement with the child support recipient is recommended. For this a maintenance agreement comes into consideration, perhaps combined with a reduction of payments. These can then be paid at a later date, as soon as the financial situation has improved again.

However, a complete waiver of future payments is not possible with child support. At the most, the parent with whom the child lives can exempt the payer of child support from the payments. This is done by offsetting against interests of the payer of alimony. The latter could, for example, renounce his share of the house previously jointly occupied and subsequently no longer pay maintenance.

However, the parent providing child support must then provide for the child's support himself/herself in return. The child support may therefore not be jeopardized under any circumstances. However, such a maintenance agreement is only valid between the parents. This means that the parents can regulate the maintenance of the child individually by means of an agreement, but the child's maintenance claim remains unaffected despite the agreement. So the agreement of the parents ensures that the child can continue to enforce its maintenance against the other parent. This becomes particularly relevant if the parent with whom the child lives does not pay the full amount of child support. Especially in the case of only a temporary agreement for the corona period, however, this should not be a problem.

In the case of postmarital spousal support, however, such a support agreement including waiver of payments is possible through § 1585c BGB.

A single parent may then be eligible to apply for an advance on child support payments. This is usually done in an uncomplicated manner at the local youth welfare office. After that, the payer must pay the child support to the child support advance fund.

At the same time, you have the option of taking out a loan to ensure maintenance payments.

5. How does the child bonus affect the child support obligation?

In mid-June 2020, the German government adopted a comprehensive package of measures to mitigate the economic impact of the Corona crisis. This Second Corona Tax Assistance Act contains u.a. a child or. Family bonus. It is designed to provide more money to families in the short term to help revive the economy.

The family bonus is granted to parents for each child and amounts to € 300 per child. The prerequisite for payment is that the parents are eligible for child benefits:

• If the parents are entitled to child benefit in September 2020, they will receive an additional €150 state allowance in both September and October.
• If the parents are entitled to child benefit in another month in 2020, they will still receive the €300 child bonus. However, there is no guarantee that this will happen in September and October 2020. Nor is it certain that the payment will be made in two installments.

So, if the parents live with their children, they will receive an immediate bonus of 300 €.

In the case of separated parents, the family bonus should, if possible, be paid to both parents to the same extent. As with child benefit, the parent with whom the child lives receives the child benefit.

However, the person liable to pay alimony may deduct half of the child bonus (i.e., €150) from his alimony payment on a one-time basis, provided that at least one of the following two conditions is met:

1. The debtor pays at least the minimum maintenance OR
2. The breadwinner takes care of the child at least half of the time.

The person liable to pay maintenance is thus effectively entitled to half of the immediate payment. However, it is also important here that the child support payment cannot be permanently reduced. It is a one-time bonus for the parent bringing up the child. That's why the amount can only be deducted in relation to the two monthly payments.

In order to avoid conflicts, the debtor should only make the reduction once the bonus payment has been credited to the account of the parent bringing up the child.

Otherwise, in the worst case scenario, the recipient of maintenance will have a financing gap in the amount of the omitted payment. So, in October 2020 at the earliest, the person liable for maintenance can reduce the monthly maintenance payment once.

Update March 2021: Parents will also receive a bonus this year, so that more money is available in the short term and thus the economy is stimulated again. For each child eligible for child benefit in 2021, parents will receive a child bonus of €150.

As in the previous year, the child bonus will not be counted towards an advance on maintenance payments applied for. The amount of your child support advance is therefore not reduced by the child bonus.

• If you are eligible for child support for the month of May 2021, the one-time bonus will be paid in May – you do not need to apply for it.
• Even if there is no entitlement to child support in May, the bonus will still be granted, provided that the child support entitlement exists in at least one other month of the year 2021. When the payment will be made, however, is not yet clear. In this case, the payment may take a longer time. In this case, a reduction in alimony should only be made after consultation with the ex-partner. This way, both sides make sure that the bonus has already been paid before the maintenance is reduced.

Tip: In line with last year's procedure, you should include in the subject of the transfer that there will be a reduction of €75 because of the 2021 child bonus.

6. Do I have to draw on my savings?

Before a reduction of the maintenance title or a maintenance agreement with the recipient, existing assets must be used. However, this only applies to the maintenance of minor children.

However, the payer is entitled to a sog. Schonvermogen to. This refers to a share of the assets that does not have to be used for child support.

The specific amount depends on the individual case. There are no legally defined limits. In any case, however, residential property is a component of the sheltered assets (BGH, 07.08.2013, Az. XII ZB 269/12). The situation is similar for assets that can only be liquidated with considerable economic losses. Particularly in the case of parental maintenance, the amount of assets depends on many preconditions.

7. How much may I keep for my own needs?

Nevertheless, the debtor must also retain a portion of his income. How high this share is, also determines the Dusseldorfer table. One speaks of the so-called. Deductible. This remains with the maintenance payer in any case, so that his or her appropriate lifestyle can be ensured.

In the case of child support, this is €960 for a non-employed person. For employed persons, the limit is 1.160 €. So if you lose your job because of Corona, the deductible drops. Nevertheless, this sum must be available to the parent.

However, the deductible varies for the different forms of maintenance. It is approximately dependent on the income and living situation of the breadwinner. The Dusseldorfer Table distinguishes between numerous scenarios here. For spousal support, the deductible is 1.280 € for the employed and at 1.180 € for the non-employed person obliged to pay maintenance. In the case of parental maintenance, this is even 2.000 €.

The deductible is deducted monthly from the income before determining the alimony. If the remaining money is not sufficient for the maintenance payment, the maintenance is reduced accordingly. One speaks then according to § 1603 BGB of a lack of ability to pay of the payer. Under certain strict conditions, this deductible can be slightly reduced or even increased.

8. What happens if I would be left with less than the deductible?

If the income is below the deductible, no more maintenance is to be paid. For the recipient of child support, there is then the possibility of applying for an advance on child support at the Youth Welfare Office.

In this respect it is ensured that also with a notice because of Corona or short-time work a certain sum for living is to the maintenance obligor at the disposal.

9. Summary

• Corona does not change in principle the existence of maintenance obligations. Only the amount of payments may decrease due to a reduced income.
• A portion of the income will remain with the child support payer as a deductible in all cases.
• If there is a child support order, a request for modification should be filed with the family court if there is not enough money to pay it. Otherwise the execution could be pursued directly.
• Without a maintenance title, an agreement with the maintenance recipient is recommended. However, child support cannot be waived in this case. Only exemption is possible by offsetting against interests of the other party.
• Under no circumstances should the alimony payments simply be stopped. Rather, every effort must be made to be able to pay the alimony again as soon as possible.