Maintenance garnishment 2026: tighter limits than the table
A creditor enforcing maintenance in Germany is not bound by the garnishment table. The court decides what you keep, so the calculator at the top works with the amount stated in your order.
Attachable for maintenance
€1,150
You keep €1,250.
| For comparison: ordinary garnishment | €568.82 |
| Extra for the maintenance creditor | €581.18 |
The enforcement court sets the necessary maintenance case by case (section 850d(1) ZPO); the calculator only uses the figure you enter from the order.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · 2026 table (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 80) and ZPO checked on 28 October 2026
When statutory maintenance is enforced in Germany (Unterhaltspfändung), the garnishment table does not apply. Under section 850d of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), a child, a spouse or former spouse, a registered partner or a parent under sections 1615l and 1615n of the Civil Code may garnish your wages without the limits of section 850c. You keep only what you need for your own basic living and for maintenance owed to people ranking ahead of or equal with the creditor. The enforcement court sets this amount case by case and writes it into the order; the law gives no fixed figure. It is capped, though: you may not keep more than section 850c would leave you against an ordinary creditor. Example with an assumed €1,400 in the order: on €2,600 net, €1,200 goes to the maintenance creditor, whereas an ordinary creditor would get €708.82 with no dependants. Arrears that fell due more than 1 year before the application keep this privilege only if you deliberately avoided paying. Several maintenance creditors are ranked under section 1609 of the Civil Code.
Why the table does not apply
Section 850d ZPO gives maintenance creditors priority. Anyone owed statutory maintenance, that is relatives, spouses, former spouses, registered partners and former registered partners, and a parent under sections 1615l and 1615n of the Civil Code, may garnish earned income without the limits of section 850c. The same applies to three kinds of payment that are otherwise partly protected: overtime pay, holiday pay and the Christmas bonus. Of these, however, at least half of the normally exempt amount must stay with you, so at least €397.50 of a Christmas bonus.
What you keep from your wages is decided by the court. The yardstick is your own basic living, plus what you need for ongoing maintenance to people who rank ahead of the creditor, or to pay equally ranked people evenly. The law gives no figure for this, and we do not calculate one. The calculator at the top takes the amount you enter from your order and only checks the statutory cap.
The cap from section 850c
The amount the court leaves you may not exceed what section 850c ZPO would leave you against an ordinary creditor. A maintenance creditor is therefore never worse off than a collection agency. On €2,600 net with no dependants that cap is €1,891.18. If the order states a lower amount, the lower amount applies. If you support further people by law, the cap uses the matching column of the table: with one dependant it would be €2,392.41.
| Net per month | Assumed amount in the order | Attachable for maintenance | Ordinary garnishment |
|---|---|---|---|
| €2,200 | €1,300 | €900 | €428.82 |
| €2,600 | €1,400 | €1,200 | €708.82 |
| €3,100 | €1,500 | €1,600 | €1,058.82 |
The amounts in the second column are assumptions chosen freely to show the arithmetic. Your court may set a different figure. Comparing with the ordinary table is still useful: it shows how much more the maintenance creditor receives.
Attachable with your dependants
Attachable with your dependants
€207.59
| Difference made by the dependants | €501.23 |
| Allowance | €2,184.82 |
Arrears, ranking and future instalments
For arrears that fell due more than 1 year before the application, the privilege lapses unless you deliberately avoided paying. Several maintenance creditors are served in a fixed order under section 1609 of the Civil Code: first minor children and children treated as such, then parents entitled to support because they care for a child, and spouses after a long marriage, then other spouses, all other children, grandchildren, parents and further ancestors. Creditors of the same degree share the same rank.
Maintenance can also be garnished in advance: together with instalments already due, future wages can be garnished for instalments that fall due later (section 850d(3) ZPO). If a maintenance garnishment meets an ordinary one, the employer first sets the maintenance against the part attachable only for maintenance (section 850e no. 4 ZPO); more under employer duties. On a bank account, the amount in the order replaces the normal allowance (section 906 ZPO). Child benefit can only be garnished for a child's maintenance; see child benefit and garnishment.