$500 idea · Pattern break · Germany · Edition 004
Germany’s guardianship fee for the same person drops 53% at month 13.
The table in force since 1 January 2026 pays a court-appointed Betreuer €208 a month for a person without means living in a care home, and €98 from the thirteenth month. Every one of the eight cells falls, by 40.92% to 52.88%, on a single day, for the same person and the same statutory duties. The bill’s own Begründung does not treat this as a workload finding. It calls it an incentive.
The consensus reading of the Kosten- und Betreuervergütungsrechtsänderungsgesetz 2025 is a pay rise, and the federal government put a number on it in February: the fees went up „um durchschnittlich 12,7 Prozent“ [by an average of 12.7 percent]. That is true of the average. It is not true of the shape. The same statute replaced three qualification tables and five duration bands with two Vergütungsstufen and two duration bands, and moved the entire remaining step to month 13 — where it is now a cliff rather than a slope. The ceiling of the new table, €427, applies only to a Stufe 2 Betreuer looking after someone with means who does not live in an institution, in the first twelve months. Three conditions, all of which expire.
Why the cliff is there is in the file. The sponsors — Konstantin Kuhle, Renata Alt, Jens Beeck and the FDP group, Drucksache 20/14259 — write at S. 16 that „Der Anreiz für neue Betreuungen bleibt durch diese Abstufung also grundsätzlich erhalten“ [The incentive for new Betreuungen is thus in principle preserved by this gradation], while „die weitergehende kleinteilige Differenzierung in mehreren Zeitabschnitten wird aber aufgegeben“. And at S. 17 the same document concedes that an average time-per-case „mangels belastbarer empirischer Daten kaum verlässlich abbilden“ lässt [can hardly be reliably represented, for want of robust empirical data]. So the step down is not a measurement of how much lighter a second-year case is. It is a price set to keep practitioners taking new ones.
Who is on the other side is the Landeskasse. It pays for every mittellos case — the overwhelming majority — and the Gesetzentwurf costs the reform at €131.2 million a year in extra Länder spending against roughly 590,100 professionally run Betreuungen. Divide and the celebrated rise is €18.53 a month per case. Work the same two figures backwards through the 12.7% and the average German professional Betreuung is paid about €164 a month, not €427. The headline cell is a corner of the table almost nobody occupies.
The evidence
9 findingsSixteen numbers run the whole trade, and eight of them expire on the same day
Vergütungsstufe 1, monthly, first twelve months then from month 13: nicht mittellos / stationäre Einrichtung 233.00 → 115.00; nicht mittellos / andere Wohnform 325.00 → 192.00; mittellos / stationäre Einrichtung 208.00 → 98.00; mittellos / andere Wohnform 247.00 → 144.00. Stufe 2: 305.00 → 155.00; 427.00 → 250.00; 275.00 → 130.00; 324.00 → 190.00. § 8 Abs. 1: „Die dem beruflichen Betreuer nach § 7 zu bewilligende Vergütung bestimmt sich nach monatlichen Fallpauschalen“ [The remuneration to be granted to the professional Betreuer under § 7 is determined by monthly case flat rates]. § 9 makes the three variables duration, place of habitual residence and the ward’s means, assessed at the end of the billing month. — Anlage VBVG, gesetze-im-internet.de.
The drafters say the step exists to keep new cases coming
Kuhle, Alt, Beeck and the FDP group, on reducing five Zeitstufen to two: „Der Anreiz für neue Betreuungen bleibt durch diese Abstufung also grundsätzlich erhalten“, and „die weitergehende kleinteilige Differenzierung in mehreren Zeitabschnitten wird aber aufgegeben“ (S. 16). The evaluation split the field: most Betreuer opposed any duration differentiation, most Rechtspfleger and the Länder wanted it kept. On whether the numbers track work done, S. 17 concedes an average Zeitaufwand „mangels belastbarer empirischer Daten kaum verlässlich abbilden“ lässt. Stufe 2 is defined by mapping it onto the old Tabelle C, which held 83 percent of Vereinsbetreuer (S. 18). — Drucksache 20/14259.
The cost basis of one full-time post: €93,109.09 a year
The fees are built from the total annual cost of one full-time Vereinsbetreuer post, €93,109.09 (S. 18). The Länder carry €131.2m a year in extra spending on professional Betreuer (S. 4, 22), plus €15.1m on the Aufwandspauschale for volunteers and €7.5m on Vormünder and other Pfleger. Against that, the courts are expected to save €25,905,390 in bureaucracy cost, computed as 590,100 hours at €43.90, from fifteen minutes saved per Vergütungsvorgang (S. 24) — which is also where the figure of roughly 590,100 professionally run Betreuungen comes from, citing a 2017 report. — Drucksache 20/14259.
Federal law fixes the entry price at €200 and names no second one
§ 24 Abs. 5 BtOG sets a fee of 200 euro per registration, with expenses not charged separately, and makes it waivable on equity grounds; registrations under § 28 Abs. 2, § 32 Abs. 1 Satz 1 and unlimited registrations for provisionally registered applicants under § 33 are free. § 24 Abs. 3 gives the Stammbehörde three months to decide once the file is complete, and the registration is valid nationwide. § 23 Abs. 1 requires personal suitability, Sachkunde, and liability cover of at least €250,000 per claim and €1,000,000 per insurance year. — § 24 BtOG, § 23 BtOG.
You may be registered before the Sachkunde is finished — through a recognised Verein
An employee of a Betreuungsverein recognised under § 14, or someone holding a binding job offer from one, may be registered on proof of most but not all of the Sachkunde, provided the insurance and suitability conditions are met and the association guarantees that a registered Betreuer supervises the cases. Full proof falls due within one year of registration, extendable where the person shows they were prevented through no fault of their own. This is the only route in the statute that puts a registration in your hand before the coursework is complete. — § 23 BtOG.
The official headline is 12.7% — and the statistics behind it stop at 2023
Answering a Kleine Anfrage from Ulrich von Zons and others (Drs. 21/3680), the federal government states that the KostBRÄG 2025 raised the Betreuervergütung from 1 January 2026 „um durchschnittlich 12,7 Prozent“. The same answer reports that only 12 percent of professional Betreuer are under 40, that „Die aktuellste durch das BfJ veröffentlichte Statistik bezieht sich auf das Jahr 2023“, that the B-Statistik shows nothing at the level of individual courts, and that on how long payment takes „Konkrete Daten zu der Bearbeitungsdauer zwischen Antragstellung und Auszahlung liegen dem BMJV nicht vor“. — Drucksache 21/4289.
The court’s own worked example: €915 a quarter, then €465
North Rhine-Westphalia’s justice administration publishes the table its Rechtspfleger apply, and works it through for a Stufe 2 case, nicht mittellos, in a stationäre Einrichtung, beginning 20 January 2026: three months at €305.00 is €915.00 for the quarter, falling to three months at €155.00, or €465.00, from the thirteenth month. Claims are filed in periods of at least three months and paid from the Landeskasse or from the ward’s own assets. The sheet uses Vergütungsstufe 1 (Grundstufe) and Vergütungsstufe 2 (Qualifikationsstufe), with Stufe 2 for a completed university or comparable education. — Hinweisblatt BS 047.
What the counter actually asks for
Bavaria’s service portal states the fee plainly: „Für die Registrierung wird eine Gebühr von 200 EUR erhoben.“ The file is a Führungszeugnis, an extract from the Schuldnerverzeichnis, declarations on pending insolvency and criminal proceedings and on any earlier registration attempt, proof of Sachkunde unless waived, a statement of intended working time and organisational structure, and proof of liability insurance — followed by a personal suitability interview. The portal notes that Sachkunde may also be shown by qualification for judicial office or a completed degree in social pedagogy or social work. A self-disclosure from the Schuldnerverzeichnis costs „4,50 € pro Eintragung“, and a nil return is chargeable too. — BayernPortal, IHK für Ostfriesland und Papenburg.
Fourteen new cases, or forty-six old ones
Currency, at the ECB euro reference rate for the US dollar on 20 October 2026: $500 ÷ 1.1215 = €445.83; $5,000 ÷ 1.1215 = €4,458.31 a month, or €53,499.78 a year. Cases required, Stufe 2 / mittellos / andere Wohnform: 4,458.31 ÷ 324 = 13.76, so 14 in the first twelve months, and 4,458.31 ÷ 190 = 23.46, so 24 from month 13. Stufe 1 / mittellos / stationäre Einrichtung: 4,458.31 ÷ 208 = 21.43, so 22, rising to 4,458.31 ÷ 98 = 45.49, so 46. Ratio of the table’s best cell to its worst: 427 ÷ 98 = 4.36×. The Stufe 2 premium over Stufe 1 runs 30.21% to 34.78% across the eight pairs. Against the statute’s own full-time post cost, €93,109.09 ÷ (€98 × 12) = 79.17 mature stationär cases to break even, against 23.95 first-year cases at €324. National average: €131,200,000 ÷ 590,100 = €222.3352 a case a year, €18.53 a month; at +12.7% that implies €1,973.01 a year or €164.42 a month, hence 4,458.31 ÷ 164.42 = 27.12, so 28 cases at the national average. The two figures come from different vintages — the spending estimate is 2024, the case count a 2017 report — so the average is an order-of-magnitude reading, not a measured one. — ECB euro reference exchange rates.
The ladder
From $500 to $5,000 a month · €446 → €4,458§ 24 Abs. 5 BtOG fixes registration at 200 euro nationwide and forbids charging expenses on top, so the gate does not get more expensive in an expensive Land. Add €4.50 for the Schuldnerverzeichnis self-disclosure, a Führungszeugnis, and the first premium on the § 23 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 cover. The registration is valid in every Land once granted, and the authority has three months to decide.
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Pay the one price federal law actually names
§ 24 Abs. 5 BtOG fixes registration at 200 euro nationwide and forbids charging expenses on top, so the gate does not get more expensive in an expensive Land. Add €4.50 for the Schuldnerverzeichnis self-disclosure, a Führungszeugnis, and the first premium on the § 23 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 cover. The registration is valid in every Land once granted, and the authority has three months to decide.
€445.83 capital · €200.00 statutory fee · €4.50 register extract -
Settle your Vergütungsstufe before you settle anything else
§ 8 Abs. 2 VBVG puts you in Stufe 2 on a completed university degree „oder eine vergleichbare abgeschlossene Ausbildung“, and that one classification is worth between 30.21% and 34.78% on every cell of the table, for every case, for as long as you practise. It is the single highest-return document in the file, and if you already hold it, it costs nothing. The court fixes the Stufe under § 8 Abs. 3; it is not something to leave to the first Vergütungsantrag.
€247 → €324 · €98 → €130 · +31% to +33% -
Use § 23 Abs. 4 to start before the coursework ends
The ordinary route makes you finish a recognised Sachkunde course before you can register. The exception does not: an employee of a recognised Betreuungsverein, or anyone holding a binding job offer from one, can be registered on partial proof and has a year to complete it, with a registered colleague supervising the cases meanwhile. A job offer is cheaper to obtain than a course, and it is the only legal way to be earning while you qualify.
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Choose cases by two binary flags, not by difficulty
Where the person habitually lives and whether they have means are the only two case characteristics the statute prices. Between the best and worst cell the same month of the same legal work is worth 427 euro or 98 euro. A caseload picked for people living in their own homes rather than institutions is worth roughly half as much again per case, and the nicht mittellos cases carry the further advantage that the fee comes from the ward’s assets rather than from a Landeskasse whose payment times the BMJV admits it does not track.
€427 ÷ €98 = 4.36× -
Build for flow, because the statute was written for flow
A book of cases that stops growing loses 41% to 53% per case at month 13 with no change whatsoever in the work. That is not an artefact; Drucksache 20/14259 says at S. 16 that the step is there so that „Der Anreiz für neue Betreuungen“ survives. Your income is a function of how many Betreuungen you started in the last twelve months, not how many you hold. Plan intake the way a lender plans originations.
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Count the cases three ways and pick the one you can staff
At the table’s best realistic cell, fourteen first-year cases clear the target and twenty-four mature ones do. At the national average implied by the Länder’s own cost figure, twenty-eight. In the cell the Landeskasse pays most often, forty-six — against which the statute’s own full-time post costs out at 79 mature cases to break even. The arithmetic is not about effort. It is about which cells you are standing in.
14 new · 24 mature · 28 at the average · 46 at the floor -
Mark 1 January 2027 in the diary now
Duration runs from the first Bestellung, so every Betreuung opened in January 2026 — the first cohort priced entirely under the new table — reprices downward on 1 January 2027. A practice that replaced its intake through 2026 will not feel it. One that spent the year consolidating will see per-case revenue fall by two fifths on a date it did nothing to cause.
Jan 2026 cohort · month 13 falls due 01.01.2027
Sources
11 primary documents- Anlage (zu § 8 Abs. 1) VBVG — the sixteen Fallpauschalen, BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 109 S. 3–4
- Bundestag Drucksache 20/14259, 17 December 2024 — Gesetzentwurf, Begründung S. 16–18, 22, 24
- Bundestag Drucksache 20/14768, 29 January 2025 — Beschlussempfehlung des Rechtsausschusses
- Bundestag Drucksache 21/4289, 20 February 2026 — BMJV answer, „um durchschnittlich 12,7 Prozent“
- § 23 BtOG — Registrierungsvoraussetzungen, Sachkunde, Haftpflicht, Abs. 4 Vereins-Ausnahme
- § 24 BtOG — Registrierungsverfahren, Abs. 5 Gebühr 200 Euro
- Justiz NRW, Hinweisblatt BS 047 zur Höhe der Betreuervergütung, Stand 01.01.2026
- BayernPortal — Beantragung der Registrierung als berufliche Betreuerin/beruflicher Betreuer, retrieved 21 October 2026
- IHK für Ostfriesland und Papenburg — Schuldnerverzeichnis-Selbstauskunft, 4,50 € pro Eintragung
- Kosten- und Betreuervergütungsrechtsänderungsgesetz 2025, BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 109 of 10 April 2025
- ECB euro foreign exchange reference rates, US dollar