Separated Parents and Shared Care: Who Gets Elterngeld and How Months Are Split

One basic condition for Elterngeld is that your child lives with you in one household (§ 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 BEEG). Living together means a lasting shared home in which you care for the child, at least for the months you receive Elterngeld.

If the child lives to a significant extent with both parents, both households count. The administrative guidelines set the line at at least a third of the time with each parent. If the child lives less than a third of the time with you, you cannot get Elterngeld for this child.

• •*The child lives mainly with you, less than a third with the other parent: you are the only parent who can claim. You can take the 2 partner months yourself if your income drops in two months, you qualify for the single-parent tax relief (Entlastungsbetrag) and the other parent lives neither with you nor with the child (§ 4c Abs. 1 Nr. 1 BEEG). The Partnerschaftsbonus is also open to you alone (§ 4c Abs. 2 BEEG**).

• •*The child lives at least a third of the time with each of you:** you can both claim, as a couple would. The single-parent extras do not apply. You share 12 months plus 2 partner months, and simultaneous Basiselterngeld is only possible in one of the first 12 life months.

Elterngeld is excluded if taxable income in the last tax year before the birth was above 175,000 €. If another person also meets the household condition for the child, both taxable incomes are added (§ 1 Abs. 8 Satz 2 BEEG). With shared care of at least a third each, that is the case for both of you. If the child lives only with you, only your own income counts.

If both of you are entitled, your application has to be signed by the other parent as well. The signature only confirms that they know about it (§ 7 Abs. 3 BEEG). It is not needed when you claim alone as a single parent under § 4c, or when you have sole custody.

• When signing, the other parent can at the same time:
• •submit their own application, or
• •tell the Elterngeldstelle how many months they will claim.

If they do neither, you receive all the months you applied for. A later application from them can then only use the months that are left.

The Elterngeldstelle first asks you to agree. If that fails, § 5 Abs. 2 BEEG decides:

• •A parent who claims half of the months or fewer gets them as requested.
• •The other parent gets what is left.
• •If both claim more than half, each gets half.

If a parent has no custody, they need the consent of the parent with custody, and in a dispute the parent with custody decides alone (§ 4d, § 5 Abs. 3 BEEG).

If a parent moves out and the child no longer lives with them, their claim ends at the end of the life month in which this happened (§ 4 Abs. 2 BEEG). The parent who stays with the child may now qualify as a single parent and take the partner months or continue the Partnerschaftsbonus alone (§ 4b Abs. 4, § 4c BEEG). Report the change to the Elterngeldstelle straight away and ask for your application to be changed.