Federal Family Minister Karin Prien on 11 November 2026 in the Bundestag outlined plans for an income threshold for the at the maintenance advance Under a draft bill from her ministry, single parents with one child would generally receive the state benefit only if their taxable annual income is no more than €40,000. The threshold would rise by €10,000 for each additional child.
The draft is not yet law. According to the Family Ministry, it has been sent to the other ministries for comment. Changes are possible before a decision by the The Federal Cabinet and during parliamentary deliberations. No date for its entry into force has therefore been set.
The maintenance advance is intended to provide security for children when the parent liable for maintenance does not pay, or does not pay regularly. The public authorities step in and then try to recover the money from the parent liable for maintenance. The proposed income threshold would exclude some families from this state support, although the other parent's maintenance obligation would remain in force.
The proposed threshold is based on taxable income, not directly on gross pay. Prien told the Bundestag that, for one child, the threshold would correspond to a gross monthly salary of around €4,500. The actual relationship between gross pay and taxable income depends on individual tax circumstances.
According to Prien, the ministry is dropping a previously announced cut to the period for which the benefit can be claimed. The benefit would remain available until a child’s 18th birthday. In the summer, the ministry had announced that it intended to limit the maintenance advance to children under 16. However, the age limit that remains in the proposal does not mean that every minor child will qualify regardless of other requirements.
At the same time, the ministry says it intends to take stronger action against parents who fail to pay the maintenance they owe. The proposals include driving bans; a greater proportion of income could also be seized. The ministry therefore presents the reform not only as a way of limiting the number of people eligible, but also as an attempt to recover overdue payments more effectively.
The financial impact spans several levels of government: the federal and state governments paid around €3.2 billion in maintenance advances in 2024. According to Tagesschau, the authorities recovered about 17 per cent of that amount from parents liable for maintenance. A higher recovery rate could ease pressure on public finances; it is unclear how much the proposed measures would achieve.
Green politician Katharina Beck criticised the proposed income threshold in comments to the German Press Agency. She fears that single parents might reduce their working hours if they lose the benefit. The draft alone does not make it possible to quantify whether, or to what extent, such an effect will occur. The rules ultimately adopted after further deliberations will be crucial for the families affected.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).