In Germany, data in the form of civil status cases on birth, marriage, civil partnership and death are recorded in the civil register. You have to prove the marital status of a person in a wide variety of life situations, for example when children start school or in the event of inheritance.

You have the option of applying for a multilingual extract from the civil status register for yourself or a relative in the descending lineage, i.e. parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren, as well as for spouses.

You can apply for the following register extracts in different languages at your local registry office:

• Birth registers
• Marriage registers
• Death registers

The civil status also includes other family and name law facts. For this reason, all events that change a person's civil status are also registered in the civil registers as so-called follow-up certifications. Such events can be, for example, the recognition of paternity, adoption, dissolution of marriage, a change of name or the declaration of death.

You can apply for the register extracts for a fee for yourself as well as for your relatives in the descending lineage, i.e. parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren, as well as for spouses.