Only for children born on or after 1 May 2025. Otherwise paper with a handwritten signature is required (§ 28 Abs. 1b BEEG).

Parental leave in Germany: the seven-week deadline and the one-week window

The one-week window nobody tells you about

Two deadlines run towards each other, and only the week between them is safe:

Eight weeks before the start your protection against dismissal begins – but not a day earlier (§ 18 Abs. 1 BEEG).
Seven weeks before the start your request must have reached the employer (§ 16 Abs. 1 BEEG).

Send your request nine or ten weeks before, and you have told your employer about a long absence while you are still fully dismissible. Send it six weeks before, and you may not be able to start on the date you planned – the earliest possible start moves back accordingly. The week between eight and seven weeks is the one to aim for.

There is one statutory way out: „Bei dringenden Gründen ist ausnahmsweise eine angemessene kürzere Frist möglich“ (§ 16 Abs. 1 Satz 3 BEEG) – in urgent cases a reasonably shorter period is possible. Whether your case is urgent is a judgement we do not make for you; a birth that comes early is the textbook example.

§ 18 Abs. 1 BEEG

„Der Arbeitgeber darf das Arbeitsverhältnis ab dem Zeitpunkt, von dem an Elternzeit verlangt worden ist, nicht kündigen.“ – protection starts at the earliest eight weeks before leave taken up to the child's third birthday, and 14 weeks before leave taken between the third and eighth birthday.

Work out your dates

Your deadline and your safe window

Free

Parental leave should start on

If you start from birth, use the calculated due date.

Your child's date of birth (if already born)

This decides the form – see below.

Request must arrive by

…

Enter the starting date.

Starting from birth? Then write „ab der Geburt“ instead of a fixed date. Babies rarely arrive on the calculated day, and a fixed date that turns out to be wrong can cost you the deadline.

The form depends on your child's date of birth

This is the single most misreported rule in German parental leave, and even AI assistants get it wrong.

Child born	Required form	E-mail?
on or after 1 May 2025	Textform (text form)	yes
before 1 May 2025	Schriftform – paper, own signature	no

The relaxation to text form applies only to children born from 1 May 2025. For children born earlier, the old wording continues to apply (§ 28 Abs. 1b BEEG). If your child was born before that date, an e-mail is not a valid request – print it, sign it by hand, and hand it over against a receipt.

What you are committing to

§ 16 Abs. 1 BEEG requires you to state, in the same request, which periods within the first two years you intend to take. That declaration binds you. Changing it later needs the employer's agreement.

Up to three separate blocks can be taken without the employer's consent; a fourth needs it.
A third block can be refused by the employer for urgent operational reasons.
Ask for written confirmation. You will need it for parental allowance and, if you change jobs, for the new employer.

Elternzeit is not Elterngeld

Parental leave is time off from your employer. Parental allowance (Elterngeld) is money from the state and has to be applied for separately at the Elterngeldstelle. Registering the leave does not apply for the money.

Find your window, then send the letter

The calculator works out both dates, picks the right form for your child's date of birth and produces the German request letter, ready to sign.

Open the parental leave tool

Frequently asked questions

How late can I register parental leave in Germany?

At the latest seven weeks before it starts, for leave up to your child's third birthday (§ 16 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 1 BEEG). A late request does not void your claim, but the earliest possible start moves back accordingly. In urgent cases a reasonably shorter period is possible (§ 16 Abs. 1 Satz 3 BEEG), and a mother who could not request in time for reasons outside her control may catch up within one week (§ 16 Abs. 2 BEEG).

Should I send it as early as possible?

No. Protection against dismissal starts at the earliest eight weeks before the leave begins (§ 18 Abs. 1 BEEG). Sending it much earlier tells your employer about a long absence while you are still fully dismissible.

Is an e-mail enough?

Only if your child was born on or after 1 May 2025. For children born before that date the old wording applies and you need paper with your own signature (§ 28 Abs. 1b BEEG).

Can I change my plan later?

Not on your own. The two-year declaration in your request is binding; changing it needs the employer's agreement.

Read the law yourself

Alle Fundstellen führen zu gesetze-im-internet.de, dem amtlichen Angebot des Bundesministeriums der Justiz.

Not legal advice. This page explains German law in general terms and does not replace advice on your individual case. We are not lawyers, not a public authority and not an advice service. Every provision we cite is linked so you can read it yourself. Collective agreements and works agreements can add requirements; this page covers the statutory minimum.