Prien Defends Cuts to Advance Maintenance Payments and Insists on Pressure Against Delinquent Fathers

Specifically, the federal government plans together with the states to pay the advance maintenance payment in future only until the 16th birthday. "Ab dem 16. Geburtstag soll der Unterhaltsvorschuss nicht mehr gezahlt werden – anstatt bis zum 18. Geburtstag wie bisher", according to the ministry. This partially reverses the expansion of advance maintenance law from 2017, Prien affirmed. At that time, under then-Family Minister Manuela Schwesig, single parents and their children had been better supported through an expansion of the advance maintenance payment.

Scale of Benefits and Rising Costs

Last year, the state paid around 3.3 billion euros in advance maintenance payments. Recently there have been almost 855,700 cases with such state maintenance payments. Expenditure for advance maintenance has quadrupled since the 2017 reform. Prien argues that benefits of this scope do not exist in other European countries: "Anders als in anderen europäischen Staaten gebe es nur in Deutschland ein Unterhaltsvorschussrecht, das eine weitgehende Schonung vor allem für säumige Väter bedeute".

At the same time, the Federal Family Minister dismissed criticism of the savings as exaggerated. "Deswegen kann ich den Skandal tatsächlich nicht erkennen", said the CDU politician. It is not about punishing single parents. Those who cut the advance maintenance payment are punishing single parents who have to shoulder everything alone, as well as their children – "das ist falsch", she had said.

Planned Measures: Hamburg, Nordfriesland, Driving Bans

In enforcing maintenance claims, Prien is relying on a mix of organizational and legal tightening. For example, a new central office in Hamburg is to ensure higher recovery rates than the current just under 12 percent. Prien also wants to increase pressure by making it possible to impose driving bans already in administrative proceedings. In Nordfriesland, the merger of the job center, housing benefit office, and youth welfare office is also planned to improve cross-agency data exchange for the recovery of funds.

According to the ministry, the delinquent parents who do not fulfill their maintenance obligation are predominantly fathers. Only around 18 percent of delinquent parents paid back. Prien told the broadcaster NDR Info: "Es kann doch nicht sein, dass in Deutschland sich 80 bis 85 Prozent der betroffenen Väter (…) einen schlanken Fuß machen, sondern diese müssen stärker in die Verantwortung genommen werden."

Reactions to the reform plans are controversial. SPD Bundestag member Truels Reichardt, who represents Nordfriesland and is his parliamentary group's commissioner for children's issues, criticized the low recovery rates as a deficiency. He described the low recovery rate as "eine schreiende Ungerechtigkeit". Reichardt said: "Ich glaube, dass wir da auf andere Ideen kommen müssen".

International Comparison: Stadium Bans in Buenos Aires

Possible other ideas are currently also being discussed internationally. Buenos Aires, for example, has been relying for about a year on tougher sanctions against delinquent fathers; Mayor Jorge Macri issued a decree in 2025 excluding fathers unwilling to pay from entering football stadiums and major public events such as concerts. Jorge Macri said that checks took place "sogar während der WM". "Wenn sie ihren Verpflichtungen gegenüber ihren Kindern nicht nachkommen, dürfen sie auch nicht auf den Platz", said Macri.

According to the newspaper La Nación, the Buenos Aires city administration sent a list of more than 13,000 non-paying fathers from the capital and 13 other provinces to the authorities. Before the Argentina–England semifinal at the Football World Cup in Atlanta, it was initially unclear whether stadium bans would actually be enforced at the tournament. The Child Protection Association criticized the plans from Berlin as "Vertiefung von Chancenungleichheit" and spoke of a "Skandal".

In the SPD there is sharp resistance against the cut plans. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Minister-President Manuela Schwesig (SPD), who is currently fighting for re-election, is turning against the reform, for which she herself had laid the groundwork in 2017. Schwesig is fighting for her reform: Under her then-leadership as Family Minister, single parents and their children had been better supported through the expansion of the advance maintenance payment.

Resistance from SPD and the Child Protection Association

Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, who is also SPD party chairman, had urged his ministerial colleagues to a "gemeinsame Kraftanstrengung" for budget consolidation. The background is a decision by the federal government and the states to change advance maintenance law. A spokesperson for Prien already announced a draft law over the weekend to implement the savings measures.

On social media, the initiative is also being debated heatedly. In relevant comments it is said that Prien's argumentation is reminiscent of the parental saying: "Und wenn andere von der Brücke springen, dann …". Others point out that the advance offers mothers more financial security and makes them more independent from their ex-partners in separation conflicts. Critics see exactly this independence threatened by the planned reform.

Reactions on Social Media

Prien defended the planned raising of the age limit and the tightening of recovery as a balanced overall package. The age limit up to 16 years of age and a maximum benefit period of 72 months, which is to be eliminated, are core elements of the reform. The federal government is counting on the combination of a shorter benefit duration and stricter recovery to reduce expenditure without fundamentally calling into question the supportive effect for children of single parents. Whether this succeeds also depends on how successfully the states deploy the new recovery instruments.

Outlook: Reform as an Overall Package

Spokespersons for the Child Protection Association rejected Prien's comparison with other European countries. Those who measure the German welfare state against international minimum standards disregard the living reality of many single mothers in Germany, it was said. Schwesig announced that she would campaign in the Bundesrat for improvements. This sets up a political conflict that is likely to shape family policy in the coming months.