Getting Divorced in Germany as an Expat

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The separation year and the three-year rule

German law knows only one ground for divorce: the marriage has broken down. Nobody has to prove fault. A court decides, always on the application of one or both spouses, and the marriage ends when the decision becomes final.¹

The law presumes a breakdown in two situations:²

• One year apart and both of you apply, or one applies and the other agrees.
• Three years apart — then the divorce comes even if one spouse objects.

Before one year apart, a divorce is possible only if continuing the marriage would be an unacceptable hardship for reasons that lie in the other spouse.³

Living apart under one roof counts if you no longer share a household, even within the same home, and at least one of you clearly rejects married life together.⁴ A short attempt to live together again to save the marriage does not reset the clock.⁴ Note the date you separated — the year is counted from it.

Court, lawyer and procedure

Divorces are handled by the family court (Familiengericht), a division of the local court (Amtsgericht).⁵ Which local court depends mainly on where you and your children live: first the court where one spouse lives with all the couple’s minor children, otherwise the court of the last shared home if one of you still lives there.⁶

The lawyer requirement: both spouses must be represented by a lawyer in divorce proceedings. But the spouse who only agrees to the divorce needs no lawyer for that consent.⁷ Couples who agree on everything can therefore manage with a single lawyer, hired by the applying spouse. That lawyer represents only the applicant, not both of you.

The hearing: the court normally orders both spouses to appear in person and hears them.⁸ If you don’t speak German well, tell the court in advance.

What is decided together: the pension rights adjustment is decided with the divorce without any application. Maintenance, the family home, household items and the sharing of accrued gains are decided together with the divorce only if one of you asks for it in time.⁹

Legal aid: if you cannot afford the costs, you can apply for legal aid (Verfahrenskostenhilfe). It covers court costs and, if the court assigns one, your lawyer, in whole or in part.¹⁰

What a divorce costs

Court and lawyer fees are set by law and depend on the value of the case. For the divorce itself, the court starts from the couple’s combined net income over three months; it can also take assets into account. The minimum is €3,000.¹¹ Each pension right to be split adds 10% of that three-month income, at least €1,000 in total.¹² Other issues decided together with the divorce add their own values.¹³

The divorce and everything decided with it count as one matter for the lawyer’s fees.¹⁴ The fee rates and tables are fixed.¹⁵ VAT is 19%.¹⁶ When the court grants the divorce, each spouse pays their own lawyer and half of the court fees, unless the court finds that unfair.¹⁷ In the example, that is €374.50 in court fees for each of you.

Pension rights adjustment

The pension rights adjustment (Versorgungsausgleich) splits the pension rights each spouse earned during the marriage in half — statutory pension, civil service pension, occupational and private pension plans.¹⁸ The marriage period runs from the first day of the month of the wedding to the last day of the month before the divorce application was served.¹⁹

• Short marriages: after a marriage period of up to three years, pensions are only split if one of you applies.¹⁹
• Pensions abroad: they count, but a German court cannot split a pension held with a foreign provider at the divorce. It can be claimed later instead.²⁰
• International couples: the adjustment follows the law that applies to the divorce. If that is German law, it is carried out only if the law of a country of which one of you is a citizen knows such a sharing; otherwise only on application, if one of you earned a German pension right.²¹

A marriage contract can exclude or change the adjustment, within the limits courts check (see prenuptial agreements in Germany).

Maintenance and property

While you live apart, the spouse with less income can claim maintenance appropriate to your standard of living as a couple.²² After the divorce, each spouse must provide for themselves in principle.²³ Exceptions exist, above all for a parent who cares for a joint child: at least for three years after the birth, longer where fair.²⁴ Courts can reduce or limit maintenance in time where unlimited payments would be unfair.²⁵ Child maintenance is a separate claim of the child.¹⁰

Property: without a marriage contract, the spouse whose net assets grew more during the marriage pays the other half of the difference. The cut-off date is the day the divorce application is served.²⁶ How that is calculated: prenuptial agreements in Germany.

International couples: which court, which law

Which court: within the EU (except Denmark), the courts of the country where both of you live have jurisdiction, among others. So do the courts where the spouse you divorce lives, or where the applicant has lived for a year — six months for a citizen of that country — and the courts of the country whose citizens you both are.²⁷

Which law: a German court does not always apply German divorce law. Without a choice, it applies the law of the country where you both live when the case starts; failing that, the law of your last shared home if it ended less than a year earlier and one of you still lives there; then the law of your common nationality; and finally German law.²⁸ These rules can also lead to the law of a country outside the EU.²⁸

Choosing the law: you can agree on the law of the country where you both live, of your last shared home if one of you still lives there, of either spouse’s nationality, or of the court’s country.²⁹ In Germany, the agreement must be notarized; it can also be recorded in court until the end of the hearing at first instance.³⁰

Only by a court: in Germany, a marriage can only be divorced by a court.³¹ A religious or private divorce carried out in Germany does not end the marriage under German law.

Divorced abroad: recognition in Germany

Divorce from another EU country: a divorce granted in an EU country other than Denmark is recognized in Germany automatically, without a procedure.³² A Danish divorce usually needs the procedure below.³²

Divorce from outside the EU: it counts in Germany only once the justice administration of the federal state where one of you lives has confirmed that the conditions for recognition are met. Several states, such as Hamburg and Saxony, have handed this task to the president of a higher regional court.³³ If neither of you lives in Germany, the state where a new marriage is planned decides, otherwise Berlin.³³ The decision binds all courts and authorities.³³

• Exception: no procedure is needed if a court or authority of the country of which both of you were citizens at the time granted the divorce.³³
• Fee: €15 to €305, depending on the work involved, the importance of the case and your income.³⁴
• Time: Hamburg’s higher regional court says it usually decides about five months after it has the complete documents.³⁵
• Scope: the decision covers only the end of the marriage. Maintenance, custody and pensions are separate matters.³⁵

You need the recognition above all before marrying again in Germany. The registry office will ask for it.

Residence permit after separation

A spouse from outside the EU who came to join their partner holds a residence permit for the purpose of family life. What counts is the end of married life together, not the divorce date. The permit is then extended for one year as an independent right if:³⁶

• your married life together lasted at least three years lawfully in Germany, or
• your spouse died while you lived together in Germany.

If your spouse holds an EU Blue Card, two years in Germany are enough when you had lived together in another EU country for at least a year before.³⁶ The three years can be waived in cases of particular hardship — for example, if you were a victim of domestic violence or if returning would seriously harm your interests or those of your child.³⁶ The same rules apply to the spouse of a German.³⁷ Spouses of Germans can usually get a settlement permit after three years with a residence permit, if the marriage continues and they speak sufficient German.³⁷

After that year, the immigration office can extend the permit further until you qualify for a settlement permit.³⁶ More on the permit itself: spouse visa for Germany.

Your surname after the divorce

You keep your married name after the divorce. If you prefer, you can return to your birth name or to the name you had before the marriage, or put your birth name or previous name before or after the married name. The declaration is made at a registry office and must be certified.³⁸

Does legal insurance pay for a divorce?

Mostly not for the court case. HUK-COBURG’s private legal insurance, for example, pays for legal advice in family matters, such as a divorce; it reimburses only the cost of that advice, and pays up to €1,500 per case beyond advice only with its add-on module.³⁹ Feather, which sells legal insurance in English, covers marriage and civil partnership disputes up to €250 per case on its Basic plan and up to €2,500 on Advanced.⁴⁰ For family law, Feather has a one-year waiting period, and only problems that arise after the waiting period are covered — so the policy must be in place well before a separation.⁴⁰

Compared with the €3,203 in the example above, that covers part of the cost at most. Plans, waiting periods and limits compared: legal insurance in Germany.

General information, not legal advice: for your own case, talk to a family lawyer. If you married abroad, also read married abroad; same-sex couples find their specifics in same-sex marriage in Germany. Overview of the topic: getting married in Germany.

Part of getting married in Germany. See also: prenuptial agreements · your surname after marriage.

Frequently Asked Questions