Maintenance advances / Unterhaltsvorschuss

If the parent liable to pay maintenance does not pay sufficient maintenance for the child, students who are single parents can receive a maintenance advance from the Youth Welfare Office / Jugendamt.

In accordance with the Act on Advance Maintenance Payments / Unterhaltsvorschussgesetz, a child is paid a maintenance advance if, for example, it:

• is living or has its normal place of residence in Germany;
• lives here with a single parent in one household;
• does not receive from the other parent a minimum maintenance equal to the regular needs;

If the child and the single parent do not have German nationality, they must show their settlement or residence permit.

Since 1 July 2017, the monthly benefits under the Act on Advance Maintenance Payments are as follows:

The maintenance advance is paid each month in advance.

Benefits under the Act on Advance Maintenance Payments can be paid retrospectively for one month before the month in which the application is received by the relevant office.

Information can be obtained from the relevant Youth Welfare Office.

General information is provided in the leaflet on the maintenance advance published (in German) by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth can be ordered on https://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/themen/familie/familienleistungen.

As of 1 March 2020, working students with a residence permit for study purposes are also entitled to so-called family benefits - child benefit, parental benefit, maintenance advance payment - (previously § 16, in future § 16b AufenthG). The previous entitlement of students from the EU, EEA, Switzerland, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, which is regulated by intergovernmental agreements, continues to exist regardless of the above-mentioned change.