'Divorce in Germany: Trennungsjahr, Court, Support, Assets, and Residence

Divorce in Germany goes through the Familiengericht, the family court. Usually one of the spouses needs a lawyer, and before the divorce there must be a period of separate living called the Trennungsjahr. Questions involving children, support, housing, assets, and residence permits can have a major impact on both timing and costs. Below is a practical overview of the procedure without marketing promises and without replacing advice from a family law attorney.

According to Destatis, there were about 129,300 divorces in Germany in 2024. The average length of a marriage before divorce was 14.7 years. Roughly half of the divorces involved minor children. These figures are useful background, but any specific divorce still depends on the documents, income, children, assets, place of residence, and the spouses’ willingness to reach an agreement.

Year	Number of Divorces in Germany
2024	129 337
2023	129 008
2022	137 353

Where to Start a Divorce in Germany

The first practical step is to find a lawyer who handles family law. In divorce cases before the Familiengericht, representation by a lawyer is mandatory. In an uncontested divorce, the other spouse can often refrain from hiring their own lawyer if they only agree to the divorce and do not file claims of their own. If there is a dispute over children, support, assets, or housing, a separate lawyer for the other side usually becomes practically necessary.

A lawyer can be found through the bar association, professional directories, recommendations from acquaintances, or searches for terms such as Familienrecht, Scheidung, and Rechtsanwalt. For Russian-speaking families, it is worth clarifying in advance whether the lawyer works with international marriages, residence permits, and foreign documents.

Documents for the First Meeting

Usually, to get started you will need:

a marriage certificate or an extract from the family register;
a marriage contract, if there is one;
birth certificates of the couple’s common children;
passports or identity cards;
information about both spouses’ income;
information about housing, loans, assets, and pension rights;
residence permit documents if one or both spouses are not German citizens.

If some documents are missing, the lawyer will explain what can be provided later. But the more accurate the initial information, the more realistic the estimate of timelines, costs, and risks.

Trennungsjahr: the Year of Separate Living

In most cases, spouses must live separately for at least one year before the divorce. This is called the Trennungsjahr. German law looks not only at different addresses, but at whether the marital household has in fact ended.

Living separately is possible even in the same apartment if the spouses have genuinely separated their daily lives: separate finances, shopping, meals, laundry, bedrooms, and everyday organization. In German practice this is often described as getrennt von Tisch und Bett - separate at the table and in bed.

If both spouses want the divorce or the other spouse agrees, the law assumes the marriage has broken down after one year of separate living. If one spouse objects, the lasting breakdown of the marriage is generally assumed after three years of separate living. Before one year has passed, a divorce is possible only in exceptional cases where continuing the marriage would be an unbearable hardship, for example because of serious violence or another situation connected to the personality of the other spouse.

When the start date of the Trennungsjahr is disputed, the evidence may include:

a separate rental agreement;
registration at another address;
correspondence about the separation;
separate accounts and payments;
witness statements;
documents from the police, a Frauenhaus, or counseling services if violence is involved.

A brief attempt at reconciliation does not necessarily reset the clock by itself. But if the spouses actually resumed married life, the court may assess the period of separate living differently.

How the Divorce Proceeds Step by Step

An uncontested divorce usually looks like this:

One spouse contacts a lawyer.
The lawyer reviews the Trennungsjahr, the documents, the children, income, pension rights, and any potential disputes.
The divorce petition is filed with the Familiengericht through the lawyer.
The court sends the documents to the other spouse.
The parties complete the paperwork for the Versorgungsausgleich, the division of pension rights, if it is being carried out.
The court schedules a hearing once the information has been collected and there are no obstacles.
At the hearing, the court clarifies the date of separation, the agreement to divorce, and any unresolved issues.
The court issues the divorce decision. It enters into force after the required procedure if the parties do not waive appeal through their lawyers.

In a straightforward uncontested case, the hearing can be brief. But the overall timeline depends on the court, the completeness of the documents, the Versorgungsausgleich, and disputes between the spouses. If there is conflict over a child, support, assets, or housing, the process can take significantly longer.

Uncontested and Contested Divorce

An uncontested divorce is cheaper and faster because the court does not have to resolve all of the spouses’ conflicts. The parties agree in advance about the children, support, housing, belongings, bank accounts, and debts.

A contested divorce arises when there is no agreement on one or more issues:

where the child lives and how Umgang, contact with the other parent, is arranged;
how much child or spousal support must be paid;
who stays in the shared apartment;
how to divide assets, accounts, loans, and pension rights;
which court and which law apply to an international family.

In a disputed situation, it is not worth signing agreements just for the sake of speed. A mistake involving support, residence permits, pension rights, or recognition of a foreign divorce can become very expensive later.

Cost of Divorce

The costs consist of court fees and the lawyer’s fee. The basis for calculation is the Verfahrenswert, the procedural value of the case. Under the FamGKG, the circumstances of the specific case are taken into account in divorce matters, above all the spouses’ income and assets; the value cannot be lower than 3,000 euros or higher than 1 million euros. For income, the spouses’ net income over three months is used.

Separate issues can increase the costs: Versorgungsausgleich, disputes over assets, support, children, housing, notarized agreements, property valuation, or the involvement of a second lawyer.

It is important not to confuse the Verfahrenswert with the amount you actually pay. It is a calculation basis from which fees and lawyer remuneration are determined according to tables. It is best to ask the lawyer handling the case for a precise estimate.

Legal expenses insurance, Rechtsschutzversicherung, often does not cover the divorce proceedings themselves, but it sometimes pays for an initial consultation. The conditions have to be checked in the specific policy. People with low income can discuss Verfahrenskostenhilfe, assistance with court costs, with their lawyer.

Divorce also affects taxes: after separation and divorce, tax classes, joint taxation, and financial planning may change.

Children, Custody, and Jugendamt

After a divorce, parental rights do not usually disappear automatically. If the parents had joint Sorge, it generally continues unless the court decides otherwise. The parent with whom the child lives permanently usually makes everyday decisions, while important issues - school, health, moving, documents - require coordination.

If the parents dispute where the child lives, the contact schedule, or important decisions, the court focuses on the Kindeswohl, the child’s best interests. In such cases, the Jugendamt may be involved. The office does not replace the court, but it assesses the situation and helps develop solutions in the child’s interest.

Phrases like “children almost always stay with the mother” should not be treated as a rule. In Germany, what matters are the concrete circumstances: who actually cared for the child, how school or daycare is organized, whether there is conflict or violence, whether care is possible, and whether the parents are willing to cooperate.

Child Support

The parent with whom the child does not live permanently usually pays Kindesunterhalt, child support. The amount depends on the payer’s income, the child’s age, the number of people entitled to support, and the treatment of Kindergeld. In practice, the Düsseldorfer Tabelle serves as a guideline, although the table itself is not a law.

According to the Düsseldorfer Tabelle for 2026, the minimum need of a child in the first income group is:

Child’s Age	Tabular Amount Before Kindergeld Is Taken Into Account
0-5 years	486 euros
6-11 years	558 euros
12-17 years	653 euros
18 and older, if the child lives with both parents or with one parent	698 euros

Part of the Kindergeld is deducted from the tabular amount: usually half for a minor child and the full Kindergeld for an adult child. In 2026, Kindergeld is 259 euros per child, so the actual Zahlbetrag is lower than the tabular need.

In Germany, support is calculated with reference to income, the child’s age, Kindergeld, and the payer’s protected minimum amount.

After paying support, the payer must still retain an Eigenbedarf/Selbstbehalt. In 2026, according to the Düsseldorfer Tabelle, the necessary Selbstbehalt toward minor children is 1,200 euros for a non-working payer and 1,450 euros for a working payer. If rent is high or the situation is complex, the calculation may differ.

For more on the general calculation approach, see about support in Germany.

Spousal Support

During separate living, one spouse may claim Trennungsunterhalt if the other has sufficient income and their own means are not enough. After the divorce, a different regime applies: nachehelicher Unterhalt is not granted automatically, but only where there are grounds, for example because of caring for a small child, illness, age, training, or other circumstances.

The Düsseldorfer Tabelle also provides guidelines for Ehegattenunterhalt. But the final amount depends on income, taxes, debts, children, ability to work, the marital standard of living, and case law. That is why specific percentages without a calculation based on the actual case can be misleading.

Assets and Pension Rights

If the spouses did not conclude a marriage contract with a different regime, the usual default is Zugewinngemeinschaft. This does not mean every item is automatically divided in half. Instead, the increase in each spouse’s assets during the marriage is compared, and if necessary a claim for Zugewinnausgleich, equalization of accrued gains, arises.

Personal assets that belonged to a spouse before the marriage do not by themselves become joint property just because of the marriage. But increases in value and joint investments can matter. Shared accounts, major purchases, loans, real estate, and business interests are best reviewed with a lawyer and, if necessary, a tax adviser.

Separately, the court usually examines the Versorgungsausgleich, the division of pension rights accrued during the marriage. This concerns the state pension, occupational pension schemes, and some private pension programs. The topic is connected with pension savings, and it often takes time because the court has to request information from the pension institutions.

Housing After Separation

The right to stay in an apartment or house does not always match who signed the lease or who owns the property. After separation, it is important to settle separately:

who actually lives in the apartment during the Trennungsjahr;
who pays the rent and utility costs;
whether the lease can be terminated without the other spouse;
how the children are protected;
whether there is violence or a threat to safety.

If both spouses signed the lease, one spouse usually cannot simply move out and stop being liable to the landlord. Changing the contract requires the landlord’s consent and proper legal formalization. In a conflict, the issue may be decided by the court.

In cases of domestic violence, urgent help is needed: the police, protection against violence measures, a Frauenhaus, or counseling services. In such situations, living arrangements can be changed more quickly than in an ordinary property dispute.

Debts and Loans

As against an outside creditor, the person who signed the contract is liable. If both spouses signed a loan, lease, or other contract, the creditor may demand payment from either of them, even if within the family there was an agreement to split it halfway. Then the spouse who paid more may be able to claim compensation from the other if there is a legal basis for it.

Personal debts usually remain with the spouse who undertook the obligation alone. But household expenses, joint purchases, family accounts, and joint loans have to be evaluated from the documents, not from an everyday feeling of fairness.

Divorce in Germany for Foreigners

An international divorce is more complicated than an ordinary one because jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of the decision, documents, and consequences for residence permits all have to be determined. If the spouses live in Germany, a German court can in many cases handle the divorce, but the applicable law and the consequences are best checked with a lawyer.

Sometimes a divorce in the country of citizenship seems faster and cheaper. That can work in a fully agreed situation without children, assets, and future plans in Germany. But if support, pension rights, housing, residence permits, or a new marriage in Europe have to be sorted out, it is important to understand in advance whether the foreign decision will be recognized in Germany.

Residence Permit After Separation and Divorce

If the Aufenthaltstitel was issued on the basis of family reunification with a spouse, separation and divorce can affect the right to stay. Usually, the change in family situation must be reported to the Ausländerbehörde, and a new basis must be checked: work, study, independent income, a child, a new marriage, humanitarian circumstances, or an independent right of residence.

Under section 31 of the AufenthG, an independent right of residence for a spouse after the end of married life may be possible if the marital life existed lawfully in Germany for at least three years. There are exceptions, for example to avoid particular hardship, including in cases of domestic violence, as well as special rules for certain cases involving an EU Blue Card.

If there is a common minor child, the situation is assessed separately: custody, actual involvement in raising the child, the child’s citizenship and residence status, income, and housing all matter. If there are problems with an extension, a Fiktionsbescheinigung may be issued, but the conditions for leaving and re-entering the country with such a document should be checked before travel.

For a general overview of the topic, see about residence permits in Germany. In complex cases, it is better not to wait for the final divorce and to seek advice as soon as the separation has actually happened.

Recognition of a Foreign Divorce in Germany

A foreign divorce does not always take effect in Germany automatically. Formal Anerkennung ausländischer Entscheidungen in Ehesachen is usually required for decisions on divorce, annulment, or recognition of marriage that were issued outside Germany. There are important exceptions: for example, many decisions from EU countries other than Denmark, as well as decisions of the state whose citizens both spouses were at the time of the divorce and only they were.

The following may be needed for recognition:

the foreign divorce decision with confirmation that it has entered into force;
a translation into German by a sworn translator;
an apostille or another form of legalization, if required;
an application to the competent authority, often through the Standesamt or the justice authority of the federal state;
confirmation that the other spouse participated in or was notified of the foreign proceedings.

The application is often called an Antrag auf Anerkennung einer ausländischen Entscheidung in Ehesachen. The competent authority depends on the federal state and the circumstances. For example, in Berlin this is handled by the Senatsverwaltung für Justiz und Verbraucherschutz, and in North Rhine-Westphalia by the president of the relevant Oberlandesgericht.

Recognition is especially important if the person wants to enter into a new marriage, change marital status in German registers, sort out the children’s documents, or avoid a conflict between foreign and German status.

What to Check Before Filing

Before starting the procedure, it is worth collecting answers to a few questions:

On what date did the Trennungsjahr actually begin?
Is there a dispute about the children, Jugendamt, school, moving, or Umgang?
Does the other spouse need a separate lawyer?
What income, accounts, debts, real estate, and pension rights does each spouse have?
Will the divorce affect the residence permit?
Are there foreign documents that need to be translated, apostilled, or recognized?
Is a notarized agreement possible to reduce the court conflict?

Divorce in Germany rarely comes down to a single application. The earlier the spouses separate the legal, financial, and migration-related issues, the lower the risk of a long and expensive process.