Knowledge · Moving into care
Must children pay for their parents’ care?
The short answer reassures most families: as a rule, no. Since the relatives’ relief act, adult children are only drawn upon above a high annual income — the great majority remain out of it.
As at: July 2026 · ← back to the guide
The answer first. Where a parent’s pension and assets are not enough, the welfare office steps in with assistance with care. It can reclaim part of this from children who owe maintenance — but since 1 January 2020 only where the child earns more than €100,000 gross per year. Below that, a claim is excluded. And income is examined only where there are concrete grounds for it — not routinely for every child.
The relatives’ relief act
Until the end of 2019, welfare offices could regularly involve children in parental maintenance. The relatives’ relief act changed this fundamentally: the claim now passes only to the child whose gross annual income exceeds the threshold of €100,000 (section 94(1a) SGB XII). This threshold applies separately to each child and relates to the individual child, not to the family income — a spouse’s income does not count.
What matters is the presumption the act brings with it: the welfare office assumes the threshold is not exceeded as long as there are no concrete grounds for a high income. It does not, of its own accord, examine the circumstances of all the children. For the great majority of families this means: a parent’s care does not touch their own income at all.
When a child is drawn upon after all
If a child’s income exceeds the threshold, the maintenance duty under section 1601 BGB revives — but not at the full level of the care costs. An appropriate protected amount remains: one’s own living needs, one’s own family and reasonable retirement provision come first. Only what clearly exceeds that can be drawn upon for parental maintenance, and even then only proportionally. Grandchildren are not drawn upon for their grandparents’ care.
How much remains in the individual case is calculated by the welfare office from the adjusted net income — after deducting housing costs, one’s own maintenance duties and provision for old age. This calculation belongs in expert hands; a lawyer working in social or family law will set it out for your case. We deliberately name no fixed amounts off the cuff here.
First the parents’ assets, then the house
Before the question of the children even arises, what counts is the care-dependent person’s own: pension, savings and usable assets above the protected amount. Only where that cannot carry the gap over the long term does assistance with care follow — and, at the very end and in rare cases, a child above the €100,000 threshold. The family home is not automatically at risk in this: how it can carry the cost of care without a rushed sale is set out in detail under The personal contribution in a nursing home.
This article provides orientation and does not replace legal or social-welfare advice. The specific maintenance calculation is clarified by the welfare office and a lawyer working in social or family law.
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- Must children pay for their parents’ nursing home?
- As a rule, no. Since 2020 the welfare office reclaims assistance with care only from children earning more than €100,000 gross per year. Below that, any contribution is excluded.
- Does the €100,000 threshold apply per child or per family?
- Per child, and only on that child’s own income. A spouse’s income does not count, and the threshold is considered separately for each child.
- Does the welfare office examine my income automatically?
- No. The act presumes the threshold is not exceeded as long as there are no concrete grounds. The welfare office does not routinely examine the children’s circumstances.
- Are grandchildren or children-in-law drawn upon?
- No. Grandchildren are not liable for their grandparents’ care, and a child-in-law’s income is left out of account. What matters is solely the children’s own income above the threshold.
- Is the €100,000 threshold being abolished?
- As things stand today, the relief remains in place: children with a gross annual income below €100,000 are not drawn upon (section 94(1a) SGB XII). Should the legislator change the threshold, we will update this article with the “as at” date shown above.