Which insurance policies can you combine after getting married in Germany?
In short
After getting married in Germany you can combine personal liability, contents and legal expenses insurance policies. A couple tariff for liability costs about EUR 60 to 180 a year, which is often less than two single policies. Which policies stay separate: anything tied to one person, such as term life, disability and health insurance. German law has no special right to cancel because you married.
Benchmarks for the policies couples typically combine after the wedding, taken from published tariff examples in Germany.
Example
Typical range
Personal liability, single, cover EUR 10 to 50 million
about EUR 40 to 120 a year per person
Personal liability, couple or family
about EUR 60 to 180 a year
Contents, 80 square metres in Dresden
about EUR 23 to 25 a year
Contents, 80 square metres in Düsseldorf
about EUR 51 to 54 a year
Two single liability policies against one couple tariff
saving of about EUR 30 to 60 a year
The saving in the last example is a benchmark from our quoting practice, as of October 2026.
Your premium depends on where you live, the scope and the excess.
Worked example
Newly married couple, shared flat of 80 square metres
Both brought their own liability and contents policies into the marriage. This is what combining looks like.
Before: two single liability policies
about EUR 120
Before: two contents policies
about EUR 100
After: one couple liability tariff
about EUR 70 to 90
After: one contents policy for 80 square metres
about EUR 50 to 80
Roughly EUR 50 to 100 less per year with the same or better cover, provided the policy you keep has the better terms.
Policies you can combine after getting married
Combining makes sense for policies that protect a household or a family. In personal liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht), a couple or family tariff covers your spouse as well. Contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) covers the household in one flat anyway.
Many legal expenses policies (Rechtsschutzversicherung) come as a partner or family version. Whether it pays off depends on which modules you both had, such as traffic, work or housing.
Policy
After the wedding
Note
Personal liability
combine
keep the older policy if it has better terms
Contents
combine if you live together
adjust the sum insured to the shared flat
Legal expenses
usually combine
compare the modules of both policies
Car
separate per vehicle
add your spouse as a driver
Term life, disability, accident
separate
check beneficiary and amounts
Health insurance
separate
check family cover if one partner earns little
What stays separate after the marriage
Term life (Risikolebensversicherung), occupational disability (Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung) and accident insurance cover one specific person and cannot be merged after getting married. The question here is different: is your spouse named as beneficiary, and does the sum fit your joint plans?
Unless agreed otherwise, you may change the beneficiary without the insurer's consent (§ 159 VVG, the German Insurance Contract Act). A written notice is enough as long as the beneficiary designation is revocable.
Ending a duplicate policy: what the law allows
German insurance law has no special right to cancel a policy just because you got married. Ask anyway: an insurer may cancel a contract voluntarily if your spouse is demonstrably covered elsewhere. That is goodwill, not a right.
If the same things are insured with two insurers against the same risk, the law calls it multiple insurance (§ 78 VVG). If it arose without your knowledge, or because the insured value went down, § 79 VVG lets you ask for the later policy to be cancelled or its sum reduced.
Otherwise normal notice applies: between one and three months before the end of the insurance year. Contracts longer than three years can be cancelled at the end of the third year (§ 11 VVG).
Health insurance after the wedding
In statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) a spouse with no significant income can be covered free of charge through family insurance (Familienversicherung). The limit is one seventh of the monthly reference value (Bezugsgröße), or the mini job limit for a mini job (§ 10 SGB V).
Private health insurance (PKV) has no family insurance: each spouse pays a separate premium. If one partner is privately insured, check the rules for children before you plan a family.
When combining after the marriage is not a good idea
If one of you has an older policy with unusually good terms or a premium far below current tariffs, it can be smarter to keep that one and simply add your spouse. If you still live apart after getting married, each flat needs its own contents insurance.
Step by step
Put all policies of both partners on the table.
For each line, pick the policy with the better terms.
Have that policy switched to a couple or family tariff.
Only once the switch is confirmed in writing, ask for the second policy to be cancelled or give notice.
Update name, address and beneficiaries in life, disability and accident policies.
Checklist
Liability: spouse explicitly covered
Contents: sum insured fits the shared flat
Legal expenses: modules both partners need are included
Term life: spouse named as beneficiary
Health insurance: family cover checked
Car: spouse added as a driver
Common mistakes
Cancelling the old policy before the new partner cover is confirmed
Keeping the cheaper policy although the other has better terms
Forgetting beneficiaries in life policies after the wedding
Assuming there is a special right to cancel because of marriage
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Do I have to tell my insurer that I got married?
There is no general statutory duty.
Do report a new name, a new address and any change that affects the scope,
such as switching to a couple tariff.
Can I cancel right after the wedding?
German law has no special right to cancel because of marriage.
You can ask for a goodwill cancellation if your spouse is insured elsewhere.
Otherwise normal notice applies to the end of the insurance year.
Which policy should we keep?
The one with the better terms, not automatically the cheaper one.
Older policies sometimes have lower sums or missing modules.
Can we combine our car insurance?
No, each vehicle has its own policy.
You can add your spouse as a driver.
Do we need a joint term life policy?
Not necessarily.
Two separate policies naming each other as beneficiary are often more flexible,
especially if circumstances change later.
Does this apply to registered partners too?
Yes, couple and family tariffs usually include registered partners,
and statutory family insurance treats spouses and registered partners the same.
