3. Certification from employer
Your employer may also issue you a certificate, but is not obliged to do so. In our experience, however, only a few employers are willing to do this because they are not well informed about the legal regulations. Please refer to Section 903 Paragraph 1 No. 2 ZPO. It's worth asking, especially if you've already had your wages garnished and your financial situation is known to the payroll department. Just keep in mind that you may need to provide birth and marriage certificates or a maintenance certificate to prove legal maintenance obligations. If this makes you uncomfortable, try one of the methods mentioned above first.
4. Certificate from a lawyer / tax advisor / commercial debt advice center
According to the law, lawyers and tax advisors are also allowed to issue certificates for the P account, but they charge a fee for this. The certificate will also be subject to a fee at recognized commercial debt counseling centers.
5. Certificate from the enforcement court/enforcement agency
If you cannot obtain another, free certificate (in a timely manner), an application in accordance with Section 905 ZPO for a “substitute certificate” will help. Alternatively, because in this case, instead of the aforementioned bodies, the enforcement court or enforcement authority has mandatory jurisdiction and is legally obliged to certify the increase amounts.
The prerequisite for this responsibility is that the account holder has previously tried unsuccessfully to obtain a certificate from at least one office (see points 2 and 3). (In our opinion, if you are over-indebted, it is unreasonable to have to obtain a certificate for a fee.)
When receiving benefits, an additional attempt must also have been made to obtain a certificate from the body granting the benefits (see point 1).
However, if a certificate there does not show all of the increase amounts, this is also considered an “unsuccessful attempt” because such a partial certificate cannot achieve the entire statutory allowance on the P account. The legislator wanted to simplify obtaining the intended protection against seizure and secure the subsistence level on the account in an unbureaucratic manner.
If the court or enforcement agency requires more than one confirmation, be sure to insist on a written decision and inform your consumer advice center or contact a lawyer. The court must make a decision against which you can take further action. And that only works if you have the decision in writing.
In principle, the district court, as the enforcement court at the place of residence, is responsible for the application.
However, if the account was seized by a public creditor (e.g. tax office, city treasury, main customs office), the application must be submitted there, Section 910 ZPO.
The prerequisite for certification by the enforcement court or authority is – as with the other certifying bodies – that the conditions for the increase can be verified from the documents submitted.
You then present the decision to your bank or savings bank, which then has to take the increased allowance into account in your P account.
The increase amounts proven with a certificate are considered by law not to be included in the seizure and your bank must therefore make them available.
If your bank or savings bank does not accept a certificate presented, you should seek urgent advice (e.g. from consumer advice centers) and, if necessary, apply to the local court for an interim injunction against the bank in order to increase the basic allowance or pay out the money to which you are entitled to reach.
If the allowances increased with a certificate are not enough to protect your personal subsistence level (for example, because your income that cannot be seized is actually higher than the sum of the flat-rate allowances that were certified to you), you can also request a further increase in the amount protected against seizure Apply for credit via the enforcement court or the executing authority, § 906 ZPO (3rd protection level of the P account). Such an individual determination of the allowance can also be made upon request if, in the event of doubts regarding existing maintenance obligations, a P account certificate cannot be obtained without it further can be issued.
