Where does the Kindesunterhalt amount that Miravel uses in this calculation come from?

The amount comes from the Düsseldorfer Tabelle, a nationwide guideline of the higher regional courts (Oberlandesgerichte) that sets out minimum maintenance by income group of the paying parent and age bracket of the child. In the first income group minimum maintenance since 1 January 2026 is 486 euros (ages 0 to 5), 558 euros (ages 6 to 11), and 653 euros (ages 12 to 17). This table lies outside the Miravel simulation: Miravel does not calculate the amount itself but shows it as a publicly known, fixed figure that you enter into the simulation according to your own case.

Does a further child of the paying parent change the maintenance owed?

It can, because § 1609 BGB regulates a priority order among multiple persons entitled to maintenance and the paying parent's capacity is limited. With multiple children entitled to maintenance from different relationships, the amount actually owed can differ from the simple table value. The exact amount depends on the individual case and should be legally reviewed when such a change occurs, rather than continuing to plan on the unchanged original amount.

How is Kindergeld taken into account in Kindesunterhalt?

The table value of the Düsseldorfer Tabelle is the child's need before the Kindergeld is offset. The actual amount to be paid, the Zahlbetrag, is arrived at by deducting half of the Kindergeld from this need, because the Kindergeld is meant to benefit both parents proportionally. This has already been taken into account in this calculation.

Why does the same maintenance amount look so different for two households?

Because the amount is always just a number, but its significance depends on the rest of the household income. In a household with only one income and no second source the same amount can be a substantial part of available income. In a household with two incomes it is a smaller share of a larger whole. A Kindesunterhalt calculator shows only the number, not this difference.

Do both parents in a patchwork family accumulate the same number of Rentenpunkte?

Not necessarily. Rentenpunkte arise from each parent's own social-insurance-liable income, independently of maintenance paid or received. Two parents with different own incomes accumulate different numbers of Rentenpunkte over the years, a difference that only becomes visibly significant over a longer period and that no single Kindesunterhalt calculator shows.

Patchwork Family: Two Households, One Shared Child, Separate Finances

A Kindesunterhalt (child maintenance) calculator shows one figure: the maintenance payment. It does not show what that figure means for the household receiving it and what it means for the household paying it. Two separate households, one shared child, two very different pictures.

In a patchwork family two households live financially separate from each other, connected by a shared child and the Kindesunterhalt (child maintenance) that flows between them. A Kindesunterhalt calculator answers one single question: what is the payment amount under the Düsseldorfer Tabelle? It does not answer what that amount means for the household that receives it, and what it means for the household that pays it when a new partner and perhaps a further child have since joined. The same figure has a completely different effect in two households.

The figures below are model calculations with plausible example assumptions about income, rent, and household composition. The actual maintenance depends on the individual case, including income, number of persons entitled to maintenance, and the Selbstbehalt (minimum living allowance). Miravel calculates with your own figures.

Why a single Kindesunterhalt calculator is not enough for patchwork families

A Kindesunterhalt calculator knows one table: the Düsseldorfer Tabelle, which sets out the minimum maintenance by income group and age bracket of the child. It does not account for the fact that the paying parent already has their own new household, with their own rent, their own income, and possibly a new partner who also earns, or a further child that changes their financial capacity and priority under § 1609 BGB. And it does not account for what the payment means for the caring household, which has to plan it together with their own income, Kindergeld, and their own rent.

That is precisely where a single calculator fails: it shows one figure from the middle, without showing how that figure affects both sides in the context of a complete, multi-year household picture with rent, a second income in the new household, and the pension development over the working years.

Two households, one child, two different financial pictures

Melissa and Tobias have a shared child aged 6 to 11, who lives with Melissa. Tobias now has a new partner and a further shared child. Both households are financially completely separate, connected only by the Kindesunterhalt.

Melissa: the same amount, a load-bearing element of the household

What the Miravel model calculates for Melissa's household by tax class and net income: at a gross income of 2.900 euros in Steuerklasse zwei, which accounts for the Entlastungsbetrag für Alleinerziehende (single-parent relief amount), around 2.100 euros net per month remains. The Kindesunterhalt itself follows a different logic, outside the Miravel simulation: under the Düsseldorfer Tabelle as of 1 January 2026, the minimum maintenance in the first income group (up to 2.100 euros net) is 486 euros for a child aged 0 to 5, 558 euros for ages 6 to 11, and 653 euros for ages 12 to 17. For the shared child aged 6 to 11 that is 558 euros. After deducting half of the Kindergeld the payment comes to 299 euros. Together with 259 euros Kindergeld, Melissa's available household income is around 2.662 euros. After deducting rent of around 1.050 euros she has around 1.612 euros per month for everything else.

In this picture the Kindesunterhalt makes up roughly one ninth of total available household income, more than the Kindergeld itself. If maintenance is not received, Melissa's available amount after rent shifts from around 1.612 to around 1.313 euros, a fall of roughly 18 percent with all other figures unchanged. That is where an isolated Kindesunterhalt calculator shows nothing, because it knows neither Melissa's rent nor her own net income: for her the payment amount is not a secondary item but a load-bearing pillar, similar to a single-income household with no maintenance contribution from the other parent.

Tobias: the same amount, one of several ongoing obligations

Tobias pays the same amount, 299 euros per month, from a household that now looks different from the time of the separation. He lives with a new partner who has her own income, and the couple has a further shared child.

Own net income: around 3.065 euros per month at 4.200 euros gross in Steuerklasse drei
Net income of new partner: around 1.900 euros per month, model assumption
Kindesunterhalt for the child with Melissa: 299 euros per month, unchanged
Rent of the new shared household: around 1.450 euros per month
Available household income after rent and maintenance: around 3.216 euros per month

For Tobias' household the same payment of 299 euros represents only around 10 percent of his own net income and an even smaller share of the joint household income with his new partner. If the amount were to disappear purely in calculation terms, his available balance would barely change. Important for the actual legal position: a further own child changes in principle under § 1609 BGB the priority order and capacity toward multiple persons entitled to maintenance, so the amount actually owed can shift in individual cases. This calculation deliberately shows only the unchanged base payment as a model assumption, not a recalculated priority order.

What this calculation really shows

A Kindesunterhalt calculator shows the 299 euros and stops there. It says nothing about whether that amount is a load-bearing pillar in one household or one of several well-cushioned obligations in another. Yet that question decides how stable or fragile each household actually is when something changes: a salary increase, a job loss, a new separation, a further child.

Over several years an additional divergence builds up that a single Kindesunterhalt calculator also does not show: both parents accumulate different numbers of Rentenpunkte in their own working lives, depending on their own income, independently of the maintenance. Anyone who looks only at the payment amount does not see how the two households diverge over the years, even though both are jointly financing the same child.

What can actually be changed here

For patchwork families there are levers on both sides that only become visible when you look at both households together, not just the isolated maintenance amount:

In the caring household, check early what a maintenance stoppage concretely means for your own rent and household buffer, rather than finding out only in a crisis
In the paying household, when your own family situation changes, for example with a further child, have the priority order under § 1609 BGB and your own capacity legally reviewed, rather than assuming an unchanged payment
Both sides should enter their own tax class correctly so that net income is not unnecessarily low
Keep track of your own pension development over the working years, because it differs between the two households independently of the maintenance
When your own income rises or falls, have the income group in the Düsseldorfer Tabelle reviewed again, rather than planning on an outdated payment

Which of these levers makes a difference depends on the income of both parents, the new household composition, and the age of the child. This cannot be looked up in a single Kindesunterhalt calculator. It requires a calculation that maps both households with income, rent, and maintenance across years side by side.

Why the whole picture makes the difference here

Miravel does not calculate Kindesunterhalt as an isolated figure from the Düsseldorfer Tabelle. That table is a fixed, publicly known figure outside the Miravel simulation, which you enter into your own household. What Miravel simulates is everything that happens afterward: your own net income, your Kindergeld, your rent, your household buffer, and your Rentenpunkte, over years, for your own household. If you want, you can simulate both households of a patchwork family separately and see how the same maintenance amount works on both sides.

Your data stays in your browser. Miravel does not tell you how much maintenance is appropriate or how to organise your household. It shows you what happens with your own figures over the next years.

Frequently asked questions

Miravel simulates each household individually, with income, rent, Kindergeld, maintenance, and Rentenpunkte over years, not just an isolated maintenance figure. Start free now.