Checklist: Financial and formal aspects of the birth

There are a number of important applications and formalities to complete around the time of your child's birth. To make sure you don't miss any deadlines, you will find a compact checklist here as an overview. It helps expectant mothers and fathers to secure financial entitlements and take care of important organizational steps in good time - before and after the birth.

You should already take a few important steps during your pregnancy. Many benefits - such as maternity pay or parental leave - are tied to certain deadlines. Early planning creates security for you and your family.

• Inform your employer about your pregnancy as soon as possible. Preferably as soon as you know about it. However, it is also okay to wait for the first 12 weeks and only then let them know.
• apply for maternity benefit.
• If you are not married: acknowledge paternity and submit a declaration of joint custody. Both are also possible after the birth. However, it is advisable to take care of this before the birth.
• Clarify the division of parental leave between the parents and discuss plans with the employer at an early stage. The application for parental leave must be submitted at least 7 weeks before the start of parental leave.

After the birth, the focus is on registering your child and submitting important benefit applications. To ensure that financial benefits such as child benefit or parental allowance are paid out on time, you should complete these steps as early as possible. Some forms can already be prepared during pregnancy so that they only need to be completed and submitted after the birth.

• Register your baby at the registry office (the maternity clinic may take care of this). The registry office will then issue you with a birth certificate and register your baby with the residents' registration office.
• Register the baby with the health insurance company and take out health insurance. On the family portal, you can find more information on family insurance and health insurance for children.
• Apply for child benefit.
• Apply for parental allowance.
• When money is tight: e.g. Housing benefit and Kinderzuschlag. You can find out what other financial benefits are available in our overview State benefits for parents.

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