It can often be difficult for those owed maintenance (sometimes referred to as child support, spousal support, or alimony depending on the context) to recover the money from the person who owes it. This is especially the case when the person who owes the maintenance lives in a different country to the person entitled. In these cases, the Federal Office of Justice, in its role as Germany’s Central Authority under the terms of the Foreign Maintenance Act (Auslandsunterhaltsgesetz) and the UN Maintenance Convention, can help individuals to claim the maintenance they are legally entitled to.

The Federal Office of Justice is Germany’s Central Authority under the terms of the Hague Child Abduction Convention. On this legal basis, the Federal Office of Justice offers support in the return of children, who have been abducted or retained unlawfully, from other Contracting States to Germany, and helps individuals assert their rights of access to children in cross-border cases.

The Federal Office of Justice is the German Central Authority under the terms of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Adults. It works together with the Central Authorities from other Contracting States. Further to this, it assists the authorities responsible for matters pertaining to the protection of adults in Germany in working together, both with each other and with their counterparts in other Contracting States.

Within the European Union, German public documents are often only acknowledged when evidence of authenticity is provided alongside the document. The authenticity of the document can be confirmed by the use of what is known as an apostille. However, rather than needing an apostille plus translation, it is also possible to apply for a multilingual form, which acts as a translation aid, to accompany such documents. The Federal Office of Justice issues these forms for certificates of conduct, used to prove the absence of a criminal record, or for official court documents in civil status matters, in particular for rulings mandating corrections to a judgment (sometimes referred to as a “rectifying order”).