German Child Support

[petermartin]

Hi I wonder if you can help
I have a 17 year old son living in Germany with his mother, he has not been in full time education since the summer of 2004, when he left school without finishing his hauptschuleabchluss. I have been told that he cannot obtain any form of work or an apprentiship without this. He has not been working (or so I have been told however I have been informed he is working for the family business but not being paid!)
He will be 18 in November 2005 and I understand this is classed as the age of maturity and at that point I am assuming I will no longer need to pay child support.
I have however been advised he is applying to a Berufskolleg where he will try to complete his abschluss and I would like to know if this will effect the child support.
Please can you give me some advice as both the german court and the solicitor seem very vague on when I can stop making the payments.

 

[NYClex]

A Hauptschulabschluss is comparable to a High School Diploma here, it is basically the minimum requirement for a job, only very few mostly minimum wage jobs are available without. Therefore it is pretty reasonable that he tries to get a complete education now, comparable to the American GED.

German child support law says that normally a parent only needs to pay until the child is 18. OR

-the child is enrolled in an educational institution that leads to a first qualifying degree, but not longer until he is 27.

This very probably qualifies as being enrolled in such an institution, therefore most probably you will have to continue to pay child support until he graduates from it. If he then continues in an apprenticeship you might still have to pay child support until he finally is awarded his vocational degree, but the wages of the apprenticeship will be subtracted from the child support entitlement.

 

[petermartin]

Thank you for your reply it has been more helpful than the numerous letters we have had from the German solicitor and the German courts.

I wondered if you could help me a bit further. I appreciate I have to maintain my son while he completes the certificate however over the last 18 months he has dropped out of school and restarted 3 times now, I am unsure of the current status as I have received different versions from my son and his mother,
my son's version is he completed the certificate but his grades were not good enough
his mothers version is he walked out and didn't complete the work required he then went back to school to try again but was subsequently expelled and the school have refused to take him back.

If he starts this academic year but once again leaves without completing the certificate would my responsibility to support him stop at his 18th birthday and who would be responsible for advising me of this as I do not believe my son or my ex-wife will.

Also if he then decides to go back to school again the following acadamic year would my responsibilty then start again and could this be the case every year until he is 27.

Many thanks again for your help.

 

[petermartin]

Thank you for your reply it has been more helpful than the numerous letters we have had from the German solicitor and the German courts.

I wondered if you could help me a bit further. I appreciate I have to maintain my son while he completes the certificate however over the last 18 months he has dropped out of school and restarted 3 times now, I am unsure of the current status as I have received different versions from my son and his mother,
my son's version is he completed the certificate but his grades were not good enough
his mothers version is he walked out and didn't complete the work required he then went back to school to try again but was subsequently expelled and the school have refused to take him back.

If he starts this academic year but once again leaves without completing the certificate would my responsibility to support him stop at his 18th birthday and who would be responsible for advising me of this as I do not believe my son or my ex-wife will.

Also if he then decides to go back to school again the following acadamic year would my responsibilty then start again and could this be the case every year until he is 27.

Many thanks again for your help.

 

[NYClex]

This will be a tricky issue. If he does not earnestly pursue an education he may lose his entitlement of child support. While parents are responsible for support during the education they cannot be forced to pay for children who do not really make any effort in achieving the education. But as you can imagine, this often is an issue that ends up in court. Courts often view the grades and attendance records and decide based on them. The kids have a certain leeway, but there are limits. Also the question if they try it on their own now and then start a serious education later might be a little tricky. It depends on the circumstances if parents would then again be responsible for child support.

What you can and should do is request progress reports including grades etc. to be able to evaluate if he really is pursuing an education. If there are reasonable doubts have your attorney in Germany send him some strong worded letters about that. Of ocurse, bad grades alone are not proof that he is not studying earnestly. But attendance problems might be a clue.

 

[petermartin]

Thank you
I really appreciate your help, we have been trying for two years to get answers from the German courts, from my ex wifes solicitor and also from a solicitor in England.