BOMBSHELL: German Family Law Overhaul to Rock the Vote!

BOMBSHELL: German Family Law Overhaul to Rock the Vote!

The FDP parliamentary group plans to submit a comprehensive family law reform to the Bundestag this session and is calling on its former coalition partners, the SPD and the Greens, to support the proposal. “If you’re serious about reforms in family law and not just trying to score points in the Bundestag election, you have the opportunity in this legislative period to support our proposals” said Katrin Helling-Plahr, the FDP’s parliamentary group’s spokesperson on legal affairs, to the Tagesspiegel on Wednesday. It’s about “the largest family law reform in decades.”

The package, based on the former Justice Minister Marco Buschmann’s (FDP) draft bills, includes a fundamental modernization of child, maintenance, and descent law. The FDP has been advocating for the consideration of childcare in the calculation of maintenance, for example, if the father cares for a child for 40 percent of the time. Currently, the full maintenance is due despite this. Family Minister Lisa Paus (Green) had previously expressed concerns that an amendment to the maintenance law would particularly put single mothers in existential distress.

Now, Helling-Plahr is taking the family minister head-on. “Who presents themselves publicly as an advocate for children and diverse family constellations, but behind closed doors prioritizes their own interests over the well-being of separated families, patchwork families, lesbian mothers, and women, has left many people in this country in the lurch and has proven themselves unworthy of the office of family minister” she said. The minister has blocked all reforms and prevented them from being introduced into the parliamentary procedure.

The Liberals have adopted the legislative package as their own initiative at their faction meeting on Tuesday. A parent who cares for their child for 40 percent of the time carries a significant responsibility, Helling-Plahr argues. “The current regulation, which only considers this parent as a payer, does not reflect this responsibility in a corresponding manner.” Those defending the status quo are apparently putting the well-being of the children last.

Helling-Plahr is also a proponent of the switching model, where both parents take on the care equally. “The switching model is the best care model for all parties involved in many cases, but it is not anchored in the law. This must change.”

In the area of descent law, Helling-Plahr also criticizes the former coalition partners. This is about the rights of lesbian co-mothers, for example. “It’s time to name the horses and riders: the Greens and the SPD have been against this reform” said the FDP politician. The two factions had demanded a regulation that, from her perspective, was not compatible with the Federal Constitutional Court’s judgment on paternity, which strengthened the rights of biological fathers.