Contact arrangement for separated parents (Germany)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A written agreement between separated parents in Germany on the children's contact with the parent they do not live with: regular times, school holidays, public holidays and birthdays, pick-up and return, make-up dates, phone and video contact, information and trips abroad. Before you buy: a private contact agreement cannot be enforced in Germany. It becomes enforceable only when the family court approves it as a settlement (§ 156(2) of the Family Proceedings Act, FamFG); this agreement can serve as the basis for that, or for a settlement reached with the help of the youth welfare office (Jugendamt). In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Parent the children live with
- Address of the parent the children live with
- Parent with contact rights
- Address of the parent with contact rights
- Children
- Regular contact times (days, times, how often)
- Contact during school holidays
- Contact on public holidays and birthdays
- Picking up and bringing back the children (who, when, where)
- Phone and video contact between visits
- Other terms
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Can a private contact agreement between parents be enforced in Germany?
- No. An agreement the parents make only between themselves cannot be enforced; if one parent does not keep to it, damages are the most that may be claimed. A contact arrangement becomes enforceable only when the family court approves it as a settlement in pending proceedings (§ 156(2) FamFG). The court can then impose a coercive fine for breaches, provided it warned of that consequence beforehand (§ 89 FamFG).
- How does a German contact agreement become a court-approved settlement?
- Contact proceedings must be pending at the family court, usually the local court (Amtsgericht) where the child lives. If the parents agree there, the court records the arrangement as a settlement and approves it if it does not run counter to the child's welfare (§ 156(2) FamFG). You can bring this agreement as a proposal; the court reviews it rather than adopting it unexamined.
- What help does the German youth welfare office give with contact arrangements?
- Children and parents are entitled to advice and support in exercising contact rights (§ 18(3) of Social Code Book VIII, SGB VIII). The youth welfare office (Jugendamt) helps find an arrangement, mediates in disputes and, in suitable cases, can organise supervised contact. Family counselling centres also advise separated parents. An agreement reached there can be written into this document.
- Does a child in Germany have its own right to contact with both parents?
- Yes. The child has the right to contact with each parent, and each parent is both obliged and entitled to have contact with the child (§ 1684(1) BGB). Both parents must refrain from anything that harms the child's relationship with the other parent or makes upbringing harder (§ 1684(2) BGB). That is why the agreement takes in the children's wishes and provides for the parents to adjust it as the children grow older.
- In Germany, may contact be refused because child maintenance is not paid?
- No. Contact and maintenance are legally separate: the right of contact serves the child and exists even if a parent pays no maintenance, and the duty to pay maintenance does not lapse because contact does not take place. Unpaid maintenance is pursued through the youth welfare office, the state maintenance advance (Unterhaltsvorschuss) or the family court, not by cancelling contact.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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