Does legal expenses insurance cover a divorce in Germany?

Documented German court and lawyer costs by value in dispute, plus the usual limits of the advice benefit, so you can plan with real figures.

German legal expenses insurance does not pay for a divorce. This is not small print and not a grey area, it is the market standard: family law, civil partnership law and inheritance law appear in the general conditions (Allgemeine Bedingungen für die Rechtsschutzversicherung) as an exclusion from cost cover. What most tariffs do cover is advice, meaning a conversation with a lawyer, not the proceeding. Some cap it with a sum, others with a number of conversations or hours per year.

The reason is arithmetic, not legal. Insurance spreads risks, that is rare and unwanted events, across many shoulders. A divorce is neither: it is common, the people involved decide on it, and its timing can be planned. Anyone who wanted to insure it could buy a policy shortly before separating, so the premium would have to be almost as high as the cost. The same logic sits behind the exclusion of building projects on your own land. The honest thing is to say so plainly instead of selling a family module that pays for the conversation only.

The table separates the individual benefits. On the left the benefit, in the middle whether it is covered, on the right the typical limit. Check every line against your own wording; the phrasing differs between insurers, the outcome usually does not.

The most important line sits in the middle: ancillary matters such as the equalisation of accrued gains (Zugewinnausgleich), the pension equalisation (Versorgungsausgleich) and the division of household goods belong to the proceeding and are excluded with it. And two spouses inside one policy are never covered against each other anyway.

Lawyer and court fees are not set by effort but by the value in dispute, and that value is calculable. Under § 43 Familiengerichtskostengesetz the basis is the net income both spouses earn in three months, that is three times the joint monthly net figure. Courts add roughly five percent of assets after deducting an allowance of EUR 15,000 to 30,000. For each child you support you may deduct EUR 250 a month, and EUR 1,000 is added as a flat figure for the pension equalisation. The minimum value is EUR 3,000, the ceiling one million.

An example: if the two of you earn EUR 4,000 net a month together and there are no substantial assets, the value in dispute is EUR 12,000. That produces court costs of about EUR 314 and roughly EUR 1,820 for one lawyer, so about EUR 2,130 in total. At EUR 2,000 joint net it is around EUR 1,400, at EUR 10,000 around EUR 3,550. These figures include the fee increase of June 2025. Once you know your own value, you can check any quote in two minutes.

In a German divorce only the applicant must be represented by a lawyer. The other side can consent to the petition without one. If you agree on every point, that halves the lawyer's fees, and in practice the two of you share the single bill. It is the biggest lever you have, and it costs nothing but communication.

Two warnings. Legally, the one lawyer represents only one of you and may not advise the other; if you feel unsure, that is exactly what the consultation covered by your policy is for, with a second lawyer. And every ancillary matter you contest raises the value in dispute and therefore every fee. Taking maintenance, accrued gains and household goods to court separately drives the bill up faster than any choice of firm.

The first is legal aid, in family matters called Verfahrenskostenhilfe. If income and assets are not sufficient, the state treasury covers court and lawyer fees, either in full or against instalments depending on your situation. The application belongs before the proceeding, not after, and it needs evidence of income, rent and debts. For advice beforehand there is Beratungshilfe at the local court.

The second is the advance on proceeding costs (Verfahrenskostenvorschuss): if one spouse earns considerably more, maintenance law can oblige them to advance the other's costs. That is a claim, not a favour, and your lawyer can assert it. The third is the least glamorous and the most overlooked: an instalment agreement with the firm. Most lawyers will agree to one if you ask before instructing them.

Such extensions are offered, usually for about EUR 10 to 25 a month. What you get is more advice and a mediation, in some tariffs also proceedings about maintenance or contact rights. What you do not get is the divorce itself: a wording that genuinely pays for the proceeding and its ancillary matters is practically not available on the German market.

So do the sums. EUR 15 a month is EUR 180 a year, and an uncontested divorce costs around EUR 2,130. If the extension only widens the advice, in twelve years you pay as much as the divorce and still have not insured it. It can make sense if you expect ongoing questions about maintenance or contact, for instance in a blended family; as provision against separating it does not. Tell us your situation and we will read the wording and say plainly what the module would do for you. NAMMERT is an underwriting agent and checks the text, not the brochure.