No priority for initial vocational training in cases of increased child maintenance obligations for minor children
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Bamberg confirmed in its decision of April 6, 2022 (Case No.: 7 UF 196/21) that the obligation to pay child support for minor children generally takes precedence over the maintenance debtor’s own training interests, especially when the individual has already reached an advanced age and has previous professional experience. The decision highlights the criteria by which a balance must be struck between financing one’s own initial vocational training and fulfilling increased maintenance obligations.
Facts and decision of the OLG Bamberg
In the underlying case, a parent with a maintenance obligation, who started an initial vocational training at the age of 45, sought a reduction in cash maintenance for his minor child. The obligor argued that, due to the lack of employment during his first-time training, he would not have sufficient financial means available to pay child support.
However, the court clarified that the so-called ‘increased duty to earn a living’ according to § 1603 para. 2 sentence 1 BGB takes priority when it comes to fulfilling maintenance obligations towards minor children. The maintenance obligor is therefore required to pay at least the minimum necessary maintenance to the child and must exhaust all reasonable income opportunities to do so.
Increased duty to earn a living and its limits
The increased duty to earn a living means that persons with maintenance obligations must also take up employment outside their actual qualifications or previous professional experience, if necessary to ensure minimum child support. If, as in the present case, a parent commences an initial vocational training at a later age, he or she cannot claim that financing such training takes precedence over the maintenance claims of the child.
An exception may only be considered if the training appears necessary for special reasons and is reasonable in terms of timing and finances. The OLG Bamberg could not find that such an exceptional situation existed in the present case.
Implications for the maintenance claim
In its decision, the court denied the obligor’s right to focus exclusively on his own training without reasonable employment if this would jeopardize the minimum support due to the minor child. When a person already has work experience and is advancing in age and employment history, it is expected that personal training interests must take a back seat to paying child maintenance.
If the obligated parent nonetheless wishes to undertake training, it is required that this be carried out in such a way that at least a part-time job is held and income is earned to cover child maintenance.
Significance for practice and legal application
The decision of the OLG Bamberg underscores the existing case law on the priority of maintenance for minor children and clarifies the requirements for the parent obligated to pay maintenance when competing interests arise. The existing duty to engage in gainful employment is expressly not lifted by pursuing initial vocational training later in life.
Primacy of the child’s welfare
Case law clearly places the child’s welfare and the economic security of minor children above the maintenance obligor’s personal educational ambitions. Maintenance obligations are structured in such a way that they may only be subordinated to personal educational measures in rare and exceptional cases within reasonable limits.
Possible effects on comparable cases
The judgment is likely to impact similar cases in which parents liable for support aim to rely on later educational measures to improve their own employment situation. A reduction in maintenance payments would only be permissible in constellations where education is objectively unavoidable and no other way of ensuring child support is available.
Source: OLG Bamberg, Decision of 06.04.2022 – 7 UF 196/21
If you have questions regarding child support, the duty to earn a living, or options for structuring maintenance obligations, MTR Legal Rechtsanwalt offers extensive experience in family law.
