Relatives support

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Among relatives support is meant in Switzerland , the concept of so-called parental maintenance. Due to a significant increase in the exemption limits for income and assets for those potentially liable for maintenance, practically only a small part of the population is actually used to make payments.

The social authorities only recommend checking the eligibility of relatives to contribute in ascending and descending lines in those cases in which the taxable income exceeds 120,000 francs (for single persons) or 180,000 francs (for married couples), including consumption of assets . The previous surcharge per minor or child in education has been doubled to CHF 20,000. The previous asset allowances have also been massively increased. They were set at CHF 250,000 (for singles) and CHF 500,000 (for married couples).

These higher exemption limits not only take into account the higher cost of living in Switzerland compared to other EU countries, but also a different social model of greater personal provision for pensions and, for example, disabilities. The cost of bringing up children is also significantly higher than in Germany, for example, so day nurseries have to be paid for privately and cost around CHF 2,000 per month. Compared to personal provision and child care, the support of relatives is viewed as subordinate.

Cross-border maintenance claims

The special features can lead to problems under certain circumstances. For example, in the case of cross-border maintenance claims from relatives living outside Switzerland or from authorities to persons residing in Switzerland. These can also be emigrants, since the place of residence and not citizenship is decisive. There are international agreements with some countries, for example between Switzerland and Germany. Accordingly, in the case of ex officio maintenance claims based on so-called transferred law, the place of jurisdiction is solely the place of residence of the potential maintenance debtor. If this is Switzerland, you should calculate with the Swiss exemption limits, which, as explained above, are based on the living situation in Switzerland. This can mean that a potentially dependent person living in Switzerland does not have to pay maintenance to his relatives in Germany, even if he would be obliged to do so if his income and assets were far lower in Germany.

Despite the international law regulation of the facts, cross-border maintenance claims are still a legal gray area, as there are no precedent judgments. The fact is that German authorities in the first instance often ignore the intergovernmental regulations and try to apply German social law to German citizens abroad by writing to them with requests for information and calculating exemption limits according to the German model. Although this is probably not legally enforceable abroad, the success of the claims depends on whether the potential maintenance debtors pay voluntarily or out of ignorance of the legal situation.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The new SKOS guidelines for supporting relatives , 2009 (PDF; 837 kB), accessed on March 15, 2014