Living together and
getting married
Are you moving in together? Congratulations!
Are you getting married? Congratulations as well!
Read what will change for you here.
Do you live together?
If you live together under the same roof, you do not always actually live together. You only actually live together if you fulfil the following conditions.
- You are at least two people registered at the same address.
- You are not related by blood or other relatives up to the third degree.
- You each contribute financially to the household.
If, based on your family composition, there is a suspicion that you are living together, you can always refute this by presenting a registered rental contract at your municipality.
Are you entitled to child benefit or allowances?
Getting married, remarrying or living together are important stages in your life, and they also have consequences for the child benefit. Brussels Family receives all the necessary information through the Crossroad Bank for Enterprises and investigates your entitlement accordingly. You therefore need not do anything.
If you already have children from a previous relationship, then all children for whom you and your partner receive child benefit are taken into account when calculating the amount. You therefore receive a higher amount for your children.
Example: Jan (38) marries Marjolein (38). Jan has a son, Pieter (12), and Marjolein has a daughter, Petra (11). Jan receives child benefit for Pieter. Marjolein receives a higher amount for her daughter, Petra, because she is married to Jan and Petra is younger than Pieter.
There are a number of allowances that you can only receive as a single parent. You may lose these when you live together or get married:
- If you received a single-parent allowance, you no longer receive this allowance if you get married or live together.
- If you received child benefit based on your survivor’s pension, your entitlement to child benefit lapses when you live together or get married. We then investigate the entitlement to child benefit through your and your partner’s situation immediately.
- If your partner dies and you received increased orphan benefit, you receive the usual child benefit when you get married or live together.
The allowance for long-term unemployed or retired persons and the allowance for long-term illness or incapacity for work may also lapse when you live together with someone or get married. Inform us if you are to live together or get married so that we can investigate your entitlement to an allowance once more.
What do our families say about Brussels Family?
“Very satisfied with the service. I automatically receive child benefits for each child every month! Easy application and fast payments.”
Gabriella, 31
“My family benefits fund for years. I’m very satisfied. They respond very quickly and you can ask any questions.”
Mitch, 29
“Excellent service, regular payments every month.”
Fatima, 34
“Great team, fantastic consultants, attentive, quick, and very pleasant.”
Sarine, 27Specific family situations
Frequently asked questions
You are entitled to this unconditional right until your child turns 18. From September of the year in which your child reaches this age, certain conditions must be met to continue receiving it. You can keep benefitting from this until your child is 25, if he/she is taking sufficient hours of lessons, enrolling for enough study credits or is registered as a job seeker after leaving school.
We are happy to help you understand how to modify your household composition. We know that changes in family life can be complicated, but we will explain everything you need to know.
New birth: You simply need to register your child with the civil registry office of your municipality. This will automatically update your household composition and Brussels Family will be informed of this change.
Divorce: Anyone who has left the household (your ex-spouse or yourself) must register their new address with the civil registry office of their municipality. From that moment on, they will no longer be considered part of your household composition and your file will be updated by Brussels Family.
If an additional person comes to live with you, the local police officer will need to verify their presence before your household composition can be updated. Brussels Family will then automatically be informed of this change.
Finally, if a person leaves your household, you simply need to inform the civil registry office again. If this person provides their new address to the civil registry office, no further formalities are required and your household composition will be automatically updated.
If you have any questions about how to modify your household composition, feel free to contact the civil registry office of your municipality. And if you want to know more about social supplements in the context of family allowances, you can find all the information you need on our website.
Students in higher education (university, college) are entitled to child benefit until the age of 25, provided they are enrolled for at least 27 credits or attend at least 13 hours of classes per week.
To continue receiving child benefit after the age of 18, your child must be enrolled in non-higher education:
- Attend at least 17 hours of classes per week in non-higher education
- OR be enrolled in a recognised apprenticeship programme
- For special situations (specialised education, specific training programmes, etc.), the conditions may vary. We recommend that you contact us to verify eligibility in your specific case.
You can submit your application for the adoption allowance once the adoption request has been filed with the court and the child is living with the adoptive parent. If you meet these conditions, follow these steps:
- Send us a copy of the adoption request that you filed with the court. For adopted children from abroad, also send us a copy of the adoption certificate from the respective country.
- Generally, we automatically verify your eligibility for an adoption allowance. However, submitting an application can speed up this process. Feel free to call us or send us an email regarding this matter.
Your eligibility for monthly family allowances is automatically assessed at the same time as your eligibility for the adoption allowance. Therefore, you do not need to send a separate application.