Umgangszeit

Child maintenance 2026: how the table, travel costs and receipts fit together

When a letter about child maintenance arrives, it contains figures, but rarely where they come from. Here you can read what they are based on and where your journeys to your child can come into it.

This guide is written for parents in Germany and describes German family law as it stood on 22 October 2026. If your child lives in another country, different rules may apply.

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Illustration: a tidy stack of receipts next to a monthly calendar, a quiet country road above

What the Düsseldorf Table is and what it is not

The Düsseldorf Table (Düsseldorfer Tabelle) is a table of monthly maintenance amounts for children. It is published by the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in coordination with the other Higher Regional Courts. The current version has applied since 1 January 2026. It is not a law but a guideline that youth welfare offices (Jugendamt), law firms and courts use for orientation. The table says so itself (note A. I).

One thing matters when reading it: the table states a child's needs, not the amount that is actually paid in the end. Between the two lie child benefit (Kindergeld), income and the personal allowance. That is why the same row can lead to different payments in two families.

What child maintenance 2026 is made of

The table is arranged by the net income of the parent who pays cash maintenance (Barunterhalt) and by the child's age. In the first income bracket, for a net income of up to 2,100 euros, it gives these monthly amounts for 2026:

This first bracket corresponds to the statutory minimum maintenance under the Minimum Maintenance Ordinance (Mindestunterhaltsverordnung, note A. II). With higher income, the amounts rise in steps.

Child benefit is deducted from these needs. If a minor child lives mainly with one parent, half of it is credited (section 1612b of the German Civil Code, BGB, note A. VI).

The parent who pays must also keep enough to live on. Towards minor children, the 2026 table sets a basic personal allowance (notwendiger Selbstbehalt) of 1,450 euros a month for parents in work and 1,200 euros for parents not in work. This includes up to 520 euros for rent including heating (note A. VII, on section 1603 (2) BGB). If income is not enough for the full amount, the notes to the table provide for a different calculation.

How much you actually have to pay depends on your income, any other maintenance obligations and your housing costs. The Jugendamt or a family law firm can work out the amount for your case with your documents.

Who pays cash maintenance and who provides care

Both parents contribute to maintenance, just in different ways. The parent a minor child lives with normally fulfils their share through care and upbringing. The other parent pays cash maintenance. This is set out in section 1606 (3) sentence 2 BGB.

The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) decided on 15 April 2026 what applies if you see your child considerably more than usual (XII ZB 415/25). According to the headnotes of the decision:

This applies to contact beyond the usual extent, not to every arrangement. Whether yours falls under it is a question for professional advice.

And the travel costs of contact?

There is no fixed rule in the law on how travel costs for contact count towards maintenance. It depends on the individual case.

The maintenance guidelines of the family senates in North Rhine-Westphalia, drawn up by the Higher Regional Courts of Düsseldorf, Hamm and Cologne (Unterhaltsrechtliche Leitlinien, as of 1 January 2026, no. 10.7), say: contact costs that go well beyond the remaining share of child benefit can be taken into account through a partial deduction from income or a higher personal allowance. The word "can" matters here. Other Higher Regional Courts have their own guidelines, and in the end the court decides the specific case.

For you, this mainly means: whether your journeys are taken into account can only be checked if they are written down in a way others can follow. Only what is written down with dates and kilometres can be checked.

What you can keep a record of

For a conversation about maintenance and contact costs, a few complete details are enough:

This gives you an overview to show the Jugendamt, a lawyer or a court. How to record kilometres properly and which receipts are often missing later is covered in detail in Documenting contact costs. Only write down what happened, without judging the other parent.

If money is tight right now: ideas for contact time that costs little are collected in Contact on a small budget: ten ideas for under ten euros.

Where to get help

At the Jugendamt you can get advice on maintenance and ask about a Beistandschaft, a form of support by the youth welfare office. For your personal calculation and anything in dispute, a lawyer specialising in family law is the right place to go.

Bring what you have to both appointments: proof of income, the letter about maintenance and your records of journeys, receipts and contact times.

Sources

Further reading

Documenting contact costs

Which costs come with contact, how to calculate journeys properly and which receipts you will miss later.

Umgangszeit records contact times, cancellations, journeys and receipts with a timestamp, offline and without an account on your iPhone, and exports everything as a ZIP with a PDF. The app does not calculate maintenance.

On the App Store for iPhone, Android to follow

This text is for orientation, not legal advice. As of 22 October 2026. For your personal situation, the Jugendamt and a lawyer specialising in family law can help.