Divorce Laws in Germany: Separation, Assets, and Custody

Divorce laws in Germany require couples to live apart for at least one year before a family court will end the marriage, and the case runs entirely through a judge rather than an administrative office. The system is no-fault: neither spouse has to prove wrongdoing. Instead, the court concentrates on dividing marital gains, splitting pension entitlements, and setting arrangements for any children.

The One-Year Separation Requirement

Before any petition can be filed, spouses must complete the Trennungsjahr, the mandatory separation year. If both spouses agree to divorce, one year of living apart creates an irrebuttable legal presumption that the marriage has broken down. If one spouse refuses to agree, the petitioner has to wait three years of separation, after which the court presumes failure of the marriage regardless of the other spouse’s objection.¹

Living separately does not always mean living at different addresses. Spouses can separate under the same roof, but only if they maintain fully independent routines and finances: separate sleeping arrangements, separate cooking, no shared domestic chores done for each other.² Judges do ask about how the separation was actually carried out, and vague answers can delay a filing.

One narrow exception exists. A court can grant a divorce before the year is up if continuing the marriage would impose an unreasonable hardship on the petitioner. The German Civil Code limits this to extraordinary circumstances such as domestic violence or situations where the welfare of minor children in the household demands an immediate end to the marriage.³ Courts rarely waive the separation period, so treat the full year as a practical minimum.

Filing the Petition

A divorce begins when one spouse’s lawyer files the Scheidungsantrag with the competent family court. German law requires attorney representation for anyone who files motions in family court, a rule called Anwaltszwang.⁴ The filing spouse must hire a lawyer. The responding spouse only needs their own attorney to file countermotions or contest something, which is why an amicable divorce can effectively run on one lawyer’s fees, even though that lawyer formally represents only the petitioner.

For couples where both spouses live in Germany, the family court that handles the case is the one for the district where the couple last lived together or where any minor children reside. When one or both spouses live abroad or hold foreign citizenship, EU rules on jurisdiction and applicable law come into play, and spouses can sometimes choose which country’s divorce law applies by agreement.⁵

Once the petition is filed, the court serves it on the other spouse and begins collecting the pension information it needs for equalization, which is often the slowest part of the process.

How Long the Process Takes

An uncontested divorce where both spouses agree on the major issues typically runs four to six months from filing to final decree, on top of the separation year already served. The pension equalization alone can take up to six months, because the court has to gather records from every pension provider for both spouses.² Disputes over assets, custody, or support push the timeline out to a year or longer after filing. Contested cases requiring the full three-year separation can take four or more years from the start of separation to final judgment.

Dividing Marital Assets

Unless the couple signed a marriage contract choosing something different, the default property regime is Zugewinngemeinschaft, roughly translated as community of accrued gains. Despite the name, spouses do not share ownership during the marriage. Each keeps what they brought in, plus any gifts or inheritances received while married. What the court equalizes is the net financial growth each spouse accumulated during the marriage.

The court establishes each spouse’s net worth at the wedding date (Anfangsvermögen) and again on the date the petition is served (Endvermögen). The difference is that spouse’s accrued gain. If one spouse gained more than the other, the higher-gaining spouse owes half the difference to the other. If your net worth grew by €120,000 during the marriage and your spouse’s grew by €40,000, the difference is €80,000 and you would owe €40,000 as an equalization payment.

Couples can modify or opt out of this regime through a notarized Ehevertrag. Some choose complete separation of property (Gütertrennung); others adopt a community property regime (Gütergemeinschaft). Without a contract, Zugewinngemeinschaft applies automatically.

Pension Equalization

The equalization of pension rights, Versorgungsausgleich, catches many spouses off guard. The court automatically divides all retirement entitlements earned by both spouses during the marriage: state pension contributions, employer-sponsored plans, and private retirement accounts. If one spouse spent years out of the workforce raising children while the other built up a pension, the resulting gap is closed by splitting the difference.

The court contacts every pension provider for both spouses, calculates the entitlements each person accrued between the wedding date and the date the petition was served, and transfers rights from the larger balance to the smaller. Transfers happen between pension institutions, not as cash payments.

Two exceptions apply. If the marriage lasted less than three years, equalization does not happen automatically and one spouse would have to specifically request it. Couples can also waive the process through a notarized agreement, though courts scrutinize such waivers to make sure neither spouse is being unfairly disadvantaged.

Spousal Support

German law separates support during the separation year from support after the divorce is final. During separation, the higher-earning spouse generally owes Trennungsunterhalt to keep the other at a roughly comparable standard of living. That obligation exists almost by default.

Post-divorce support (nachehelicher Unterhalt) is different. The starting principle is that each former spouse is expected to support themselves after divorce.¹ A claim arises only in specific circumstances: caring for a young child, illness or disability that prevents working, advanced age, the need to complete education or retraining, or a large earning gap that would make an abrupt cutoff unjust. Even when granted, post-divorce support is typically time-limited, and the duration turns on how long the marriage lasted and how intertwined the couple’s finances became.

Child Support

Child support (Kindesunterhalt) belongs to the child, not the other parent. The parent who does not live primarily with the child pays a monthly amount set by a standardized national guideline called the Düsseldorfer Tabelle.⁶ The table cross-references the paying parent’s net income against the child’s age group to produce a specific monthly figure.

For 2026, the minimum monthly support in the lowest income bracket is:

Ages 0–5: €486
Ages 6–11: €558
Ages 12–17: €653
Age 18 and older: €698

These are floor amounts. Payments increase as the paying parent’s income rises across 15 income brackets. Adult children living independently while studying are entitled to a fixed €990 per month regardless of the parent’s bracket.⁷ Government child benefit payments (Kindergeld) are credited against the obligation, reducing what the paying parent actually transfers.

Custody After Divorce

Married parents share joint custody (gemeinsames Sorgerecht) by law, and divorce does not automatically change that. Both parents keep equal authority to decide on the child’s education, healthcare, and welfare. In daily life, the parent the child lives with handles routine decisions; major choices still require both parents’ agreement.⁸

A parent who wants sole custody must petition the family court, and the court will only transfer it if the other parent consents or if joint custody would harm the child.⁸ Sole custody is not a routine outcome. Physical residence is a separate question: one parent becomes the primary caretaker and the other receives visitation rights (Umgangsrecht), which German law frames as both a right and an obligation to maintain a relationship with the child.

In contested custody cases, the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) is involved by law. It investigates the family situation, speaks with the children, and submits a recommendation to the judge.⁹

What It Costs

Divorce costs are regulated by statute, which makes them more predictable than in many other countries. Both court fees and lawyer fees are calculated from the procedural value (Verfahrenswert) of the case, which the court sets from the combined net income of both spouses over the last three months, less an allowance of €250 per minor child, plus the value of pension equalization and any assets involved.²

As a rough example, a case with a procedural value of €10,000 produces court fees of about €532, or €266 per spouse.² Lawyer fees are calculated from the same procedural value using the schedule in the Lawyers’ Remuneration Act (RVG).¹⁰ Lawyers and clients can agree on higher fees in writing but cannot charge less than the statutory minimum when assigned through legal aid.

If you cannot afford these costs, you can apply for legal aid (Verfahrenskostenhilfe). You have to show that you lack the means to pay, either entirely or without undue hardship, and that your case has a reasonable chance of success. The application requires a detailed declaration of income, assets, and debts. Legal aid will not be granted if you carry legal protection insurance that covers the costs, or if your spouse is obliged to advance litigation costs as part of a maintenance obligation.¹¹

Using a German Divorce Outside Germany

A German divorce decree is generally recognized across the European Union without any special proceeding. Outside the EU, recognition takes additional steps. For countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention, you need an apostille certifying the document’s authenticity, and it must come from the relevant authority in Germany rather than from a German embassy or consulate abroad. For a divorce decree, that authority is typically the justice ministry or chief justice of the Bundesland where the court that granted the divorce sits.¹²

In the United States, no federal treaty requires recognition of foreign divorces. U.S. courts evaluate foreign decrees under the doctrine of comity, which asks whether the foreign court had proper jurisdiction and whether both parties received adequate notice. States can impose additional requirements, so it is worth checking with a family law attorney in your state before assuming a German decree will be accepted without further action.

1
European e-Justice Portal. Divorce and Legal Separation – Germany
2
Handbook Germany. Divorce Procedure in Germany
3
Gesetze im Internet. German Civil Code BGB – Section 1568 Hardship Clause
4
Gesetze im Internet. Act on Proceedings in Family Matters and in Matters of Non-Contentious Jurisdiction – FamFG
5
Federal Foreign Office. International Divorce Law
6
Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf. Dusseldorfer Tabelle – Dusseldorf Maintenance Table
7
Familienportal NRW. Dusseldorf Table – This Is How Much Maintenance
8
City of Mannheim. Joint Parental Custody
9
Kinder- und Jugendhilfe. Involvement in Family Court – Separation/Divorce
10
Gesetze im Internet. Act on the Remuneration of Lawyers – RVG
11
Bundesjustizamt. Instructions for Legal Aid Application Form
12
German Missions in the United States. Apostille Authorities