In my fight to legalize the mother of my children and secure citizenship for them, I began to wonder: how many others live trapped in the same legal grey zones? The deeper…
Category: English Language
When the registry office (Standesamt) Avoids Responsibility: How German Bureaucracy Keeps Children Stateless
Last week I received yet another blow — this time from the Standesamt Frankfurt, where I had submitted a request for my children’s citizenship. What shocked me most was not an official…
The Mandate vs. the Execution – When an Expert’s Focus Shifts from the Court’s Questions
When a family court orders a psychological expertise (psychologisches Fachgutachten), it issues a formal mandate, an order—the Auftrag.This mandate defines what the expert must examine, what questions to answer, and the scope…
What Is a Court-Ordered Psychological Expertise – and Why It Can Decide Everything
In German family law, there is one document that can weigh more heavily than any number of hearings, witness statements, or even your own testimony: the psychologisches Fachgutachten — a court-ordered psychological…
German Citizenship Was Never the Goal — It Became the Only Way Forward
For years, I tried to secure Greek citizenship for my daughters.I was legally acknowledged as their father.I followed all necessary steps.But the missing affidavit, the confiscated passports, and the deadlock between institutions…
Help From Outside: When the System Fails, Humanity Responds
After months, if not years, of silence from German authorities, I began to lose hope. The institutions had confirmed my fatherhood, acknowledged the children’s situation, and still left us trapped. So I…
Bounced Between Offices: When Everyone Says ‘Not My Job’
Bounced Between Offices: When Everyone Says “Not My Job” After receiving the custody ruling in 2022, I believed that the institutions would now support me — or at least acknowledge their part…
A Custody Ruling That Closed Every Door
A Custody Ruling That Closed Every Door In 2023, after years of unanswered letters, failed embassy visits, and legal silence, I finally received a decision from a German family court. It confirmed…
When a Child Has No Country: The Long Road to Citizenship Begins
When Origin Doesn’t Grant Belonging I never imagined I would have to explain to a civil registrar why my child doesn’t legally carry my name. In early 2014, in a notary’s office…
Where Goethe Meets Aristotle — And Where German Family Law Forgot Them Both
1. Introduction, Germany gave us Goethe. Yet its justice system has forgotten what he stood for. Goethe was not just a poet; he was a thinker of rare depth, a scientist of…