GERMANY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Valentin Todorow, Benedikt Xylander and Franziska Kästle, Raue
“Custody” and “Visitation Rights” for Pets According to German civil law, pets are treated as objects. Consequently, “custody” and “visitation rights” for pets upon separation of spouses are not possible; rather, the rules governing the distribution of objects (such as household items) between spouses in case of separation apply. Those rules only provide for the allocation to one of the spouses without the option of a temporary allocation. For non-married couples, however, those rules gov ‑ erning the distribution of objects between married couples do not apply; instead, the general rules for co- owners apply. These general rules do indeed provide for the possibility of a court to issue a usage policy based on “reasonable discretion”. There has been a trend in recent years for courts to use this option to issue visitation rights for pets for non-married couples after separation (eg, the pet spends one week with one partner, and the next week with the other partner). For obvious reasons, it has been deemed unsatis‑ factory by some that such visitation rights are only possible for non-married couples, and not for married couples. Thus, a change in law based on the new Spanish model, where pets are no longer treated as objects but as “living, sentient beings”, is currently being discussed for Germany as well.
result that is obviously incompatible with significant principles of German law). Modification of foreign maintenance orders German courts may modify foreign orders upon the formal application of one of the parties involved. There is a growing trend of court decisions regarding such modifications. In recent rulings, the courts have clari ‑ fied that moving to Germany can in itself be grounds to modify a foreign maintenance order, particularly when the cost of living in the country from which the order originated is different from the cost of living in Germany. Law Relating to the Use of Name German law relating to the use of name has recently become less restrictive. • Spouses can now choose a double surname for their married name, which is composed of both their family names. Children can also be given a double surname composed of their parents’ sur ‑ names, regardless of whether or not the parents are married. • It is now easier for stepchildren and children of divorce to change their names. • Adults will be able to change their birth name once from the name of one parent to the name of the other parent, or to a double surname composed of their parents’ surnames. In future, the applicable law governing names will be determined by a person’s habitual residence and no longer by their nationality. It will generally still be pos ‑ sible, however, to choose the law of the country of one’s own nationality as the applicable law relating to the use of name.
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