Ask a lawyer on the topic of Family law

entertainment

November 29, 2012 | 30,00 EUR | answered by Stefan Steininger

Hello,

my partner has two children (5 and 7) from a previous relationship (not married). The children live with their mother near Aue, while we live near Munich for work reasons. This means she doesn't have any help from us in terms of daily care.
He pays child support for both (approximately 500 €) and also pays for a music course for each child (about 50 € per month per child).
He also visits the children every other weekend and spends the weekend with them. Currently, he is taking more than half of his vacation time to be with them, for example, taking time off when the daycare is closed during school holidays.

Now we are expecting twins in June. I will be taking parental leave. I will receive approximately 1,000 € in parental leave benefits, a 300 € twin supplement, and child benefits if I stay at home for a year.
However, we are currently considering whether I should stay at home for 2 years because the costs for 2 daycare spots are already very high! And I wouldn't need to work just to cover the daycare costs.
And since my partner will continue to visit his children regularly on weekends, I cannot work on Saturdays.

What are the legal implications of this? Can I theoretically divide the parental leave benefits over 2 years? Will I receive an additional 100 € childcare allowance for each child in the second year?

When considering the child support obligations for our children, he pays around 1000 € in child support. He has a self-support level of 950 €. Will this increase during the period when I am on parental leave?

Can this self-support level be increased? For example, if he commutes 100 kilometers to work and back every day?

Thank you!

Stefan Steininger

Dear questioner,

I would like to answer your questions regarding the use of benefits as follows:

Parental allowance can be received until the child's 14th month of life, paid for 12 months (§ 4 BEEG).

Whether and to what extent childcare allowance will be paid from August 2013 cannot be conclusively determined here (only after approval on 11/09/2012 and pending notification).

The issue of commuting costs to work affects the income to be used. These daily kilometers can be deducted specifically instead of the 5% lump sum. This does not affect the subsistence level.

I recommend having a comprehensive maintenance calculation for all individuals carried out by a colleague on site.

I hope I could provide you with an initial helpful overview.

Kind regards