🧾 Separation maintenance and post-divorce maintenance
In brief
From the separation, the economically weaker spouse can demand separation maintenance (§ 1361 BGB). The standard is deliberately generous: in principle you do not yet have to take up or increase paid work that you did not have during the marriage – the marriage should not be forced to end immediately through financial hardship.
After the divorce, by contrast, the principle of self-responsibility applies (§ 1569 BGB): in principle everyone should provide for their own maintenance. Post-divorce maintenance now only comes into consideration in cases named by law, such as childcare (§ 1570 BGB), age (§ 1571 BGB), illness (§ 1572 BGB) or where, despite efforts, no appropriate employment is found (§ 1573 BGB).
Step by step
- Clarify need and needinessCompare the incomes of both spouses and check whether there is a maintenance gap.
- Demand separation maintenance in writingRequest separation maintenance in writing in order to secure your claim as early as possible and retroactively.
- Demand information on incomeBoth spouses must give each other information on their income in order to calculate maintenance (§ 1605 BGB).
- Check the ground for a claim for the time after the divorceClarify early whether a statutory ground for post-divorce maintenance exists (e.g. childcare, age, illness, unemployment).
- Agreement or court clarificationSettle out of court or have maintenance determined as an ancillary matter in the divorce joint proceedings.
Deadlines
- Post-divorce maintenance is not automatic – without one of the grounds named by law, the maintenance obligation ends with the divorce.
- Even an existing claim can be limited in time and amount if unlimited continuation would be inequitable (§ 1578b BGB) – for example in a short marriage or where the person is well able to earn their own income.
- Anyone who does not demand maintenance in writing in time often forfeits retroactive claims.
- For minor children and children of full age who are treated as minors for maintenance purposes, a separate, priority maintenance obligation applies – see the topic page on child maintenance.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Separation maintenance (§ 1361 BGB)
Separation maintenance is intended to secure the marital standard of living on a transitional basis during the separation period. Obligations to work are more restrained here than for post-divorce maintenance: paid work that was not performed while living together generally does not have to be taken up in the first year of separation, to the extent this cannot be expected given the marital circumstances and the duration of living separately.
Self-responsibility after the divorce (§ 1569 BGB)
With the divorce, the marital idea of solidarity largely ends. Post-divorce maintenance is conceived by law as an exception and requires one of the grounds named in §§ 1570–1576 BGB, including:
- Childcare maintenance (§ 1570 BGB) because of the care or upbringing of a joint child, at least until the child's third birthday, beyond that according to equitable considerations;
- Maintenance due to age (§ 1571 BGB), if at the divorce, because of their age, the divorced person can no longer be expected to work;
- Maintenance due to illness or infirmity (§ 1572 BGB);
- Maintenance due to unemployment (§ 1573 Abs. 1 BGB) or due to insufficient income despite appropriate employment (top-up maintenance, § 1573 Abs. 2 BGB).
Limitation and time limit (§ 1578b BGB)
Even a post-divorce maintenance claim that exists in principle can, according to equitable considerations, be reduced in amount and/or limited in time, in particular where unlimited continuation would be inequitable in view of marriage-related disadvantages.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.