Maintenance for girls

Child marriages to remain banned in Germany

(Bild: AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Child marriages are to remain banned in Germany in the future. On Friday, the Ministry of Justice presented a draft law to take into account the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court on how to deal with marriages of minors concluded abroad. The federal states and associations now have until April 19 to comment on the proposal. However, girls who were under the age of 16 when they got married should receive maintenance.

In February 2023, the judges in Karlsruhe confirmed the ban on child marriages concluded abroad, which has been in force since 2017. However, they ordered the legislator to create regulations by June 30, 2024 to mitigate the consequences of the ban for those affected. On the one hand, this involves safeguarding maintenance claims. In addition, couples should be able to effectively continue their marriage under German law if they wish, as soon as they both come of age.

"Incompatible with our values"
"Marriages of minors are incompatible with our values", said Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann. German law must continue to clearly express this conviction in the future. There is agreement on this in the German Federal Government. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the fundamental rights of those affected are safeguarded.

The draft from the Ministry of Justice now stipulates that marriages entered into abroad will continue to be invalid in Germany if one of the spouses was under the age of 16 at the time of the marriage. This will continue to apply even if the marriage of foreign nationals was valid under the law applicable there. Marriages involving minors who were at least 16 years old at the time of the marriage would therefore also be valid under German law, but can be annulled.

Marriages can become valid again
A marriage that has been declared invalid in Germany because at least one spouse was too young at the time of the marriage is to become valid again in future when the couple reaches the age of majority, if this is desired by the parties concerned. To do so, they must then submit a corresponding declaration of intent to the registry office or another suitable state authority.

Buschmann wants to solve the problem of maintenance as follows: If only one of the persons involved was younger than 16 at the time of the marriage, this person should be able to claim maintenance from the older spouse. Anyone under the age of 16 at the time of marriage should not be obliged to pay maintenance.