Child Support: An Unrestricted Obligation Until Professional Training Completion

The child support claim typically ends only when the child has completed its first adequate professional education. Support is due in advance for the entire month. Exceptionally, it can be fulfilled as in-kind support instead of in monetary form.

Basis of the Claim and Necessary Conditions

According to § 1601 BGB (German Civil Code), child support is a form of relative support. This standard obliges direct relatives to provide support. Thus, both the claimant and the defendant must be directly related, i.e., descend from each other (§ 1589 BGB).

The relationship can also be established through adoption (§§ 1741 et seq. BGB). The marital status of the parents fundamentally plays no role in child support. A distinction must be made between the support claim of minor children and that of adult children.

Duration of Support Claim

The child support claim is not limited in time. It usually ends when the child completes its first adequate professional education and is therefore no longer in need (§ 1610 (2) BGB). However, the support claim of an adult child can be revived, for example due to illness-related inability to work after successful training.

Maturity and Types of Support

According to § 1612 BGB, support is a debt to be paid monthly in advance. The full monthly amount is owed even if the beneficiary dies during the month. According to § 1612a (3) sentence 2 BGB, the higher support due to the next age level is owed from the beginning of the month in which the child completes the respective year of life.

In exceptional cases, the obligated party can demand to be allowed another type of support (§ 1612 (1) sentence 2 BGB). This allows parents, under exceptional circumstances, to refer their child to in-kind support, for example, by providing living space, meals, and clothing. Special reasons are necessary for this, which can lie both in the person of the obligated party and the beneficiary.

In-kind Support Despite Family Conflicts

If parents grant in-kind support in their household, it is not ineffective solely because the relationship is strained. Conflicts between the child and the parents regarding cooperation and mutual consideration in the parents’ household are typical conflicts in the context of family life. They alone do not justify regarding the parents’ decision to grant child support in the form of in-kind benefits as invalid.