The Social Democratic Party (SPD) intends to strengthen the enforcement of maintenance obligations, seeking to hold underpayment offenders financially accountable. Simultaneously, they have rejected the initiative put forward by Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) to reduce the state allowance for minors aged 16 and older.
This position originates from a document the SPD leadership plans to adopt on Monday, and it counters Family Minister Prien’s proposed cuts, which were justified by cost concerns. The SPD argues that lowering the age limit for the state allowance from 18 to 16 would primarily harm the young people themselves. Instead, the party contends that reform must focus its efforts on putting paying parents-those who fail to meet their responsibilities-under greater obligation.
The SPD proposes several concrete measures to achieve this. Specifically, they suggest altering the seizure exemption limit (Pfändungsfreigrenze)-the amount debtors are allowed to keep to secure their basic livelihood despite wage garnishment-so that fewer maintenance-obligated parents are considered financially insolvent. Furthermore, the statute of limitations for recovering maintenance payments should be significantly extended, as three years is considered insufficient given the complexity of many legal cases.
The party also plans to tighten restrictions on assets. Those who acquire new vehicles, boats, or real estate under their name while having significant maintenance debts would face state restrictions. Additionally, maintenance debts will be directly reported to the Schufa, which provides creditworthiness information to third parties.
Legal penalties are set to be reinforced as well. The SPD proposes removing the “danger clause” from Section 170 of the Criminal Code, preventing a maintenance debtor from escaping punishment solely because the other parent or the state provided financial support to the child. The SPD paper asserts that this situation is unsustainable and a reform is long overdue, emphasizing that children and adolescents should not be punished for a parent’s refusal to take responsibility.
The background to this debate is the substantial rise in expenditures related to the state allowance, which the SPD estimates has almost quadrupled in the last decade. Despite this increase, the state has managed to recover only about 17 percent of the disbursed funds from the obligated parents. Both the CDU/CSU and the SPD had previously agreed in their coalition agreement to improve the legal framework for reclaiming maintenance payments.
