How to apply for maternity benefit

I work for an American firm based here in Munich and I am under Privat insurance through Deutsche Ring. I am trying to figure out how I apply for Mutterschaftsgeld and what I actually will be getting. I have the website and government agency you apply with but cannot fully understand what to do with the translated version of the website. Has anyone done this before and can give me advice. There is an application - when do I need to send it in by? I believe i need a certification of birthdate - is that from the doctore and when and who do I send that into? Finally, I was told that there is a way to get 10X the amount paid out through my private insurance - how do I do that? please let me know any advice you have.

Did you read Maternity benefits in Germany?

Your employer's human resources dept might be able to help you with the application for Mutterschaftsgeld.


You get that from your doctor.

When our daughters were born i took all the forms around to our Health Insurance ( AOK ) and they filled them all in for me.Was very helpful.

Not quite true.
You get the necessary papers at the Standesamt, where you have to register the birth of your child anyway.

MichiS, are you confusing Mutterschaftsgeld with Elterngeld and Kindergeld? My application for Mutterschaftsgeld (6 weeks before and 8 weeks after) was handled by my health insurance and my employer... i do have to send them a copy of the birth certificate, which you get at the Standesamt, but that's just so they know when the baby is born... And the confirmation of due date for the 6 weeks beforehand came from my doctor.

No, I wasn't confusing it. But you need a special birth-certificate for 'Mutterschaftsgeld' from the Standesamt.
Which you get along with several other ones, e.g. for Elterngeld, Kindergeld, religious purposes.
You only can use the specific birth-certificate for the stated cause.

But after all you just send it in to your health insurance. No need to get the employer involved.

Your health insurance involves your employer, as far as I know...

When you apply for Elterngeld, you have to provide them with a Verdienstbescheinigung (certificate of earnings) which includes a section that has to be filled in by your employer.

As for the "certification of birthdate" and my reply that "you get that from your doctor", I was assuming that the child is not yet born and the question was about the estimated birth date. The estimated birth date is needed by the employer and the health insurance to calculate the Mutterschutz period, and the period of time for which you are eligible for Mutterschaftsgeld.


If you are not registered with the church, you can use the "für religiöse Zwecke" certificate for anything you want.

Also worth noting that you can get an "international" birth certificate which includes English and several other languages. It costs €7,50 and you can get it from the Standesamt at the same time as the others.