Decisions from the Jobcenter, the Agentur für Arbeit, a Krankenkasse or the pension insurance arrive as dense German letters with a number in them, and most people either pay or go without. A large share of these decisions are successfully challenged — and the objection procedure is free.
1. One month, and it is free
You generally have one month from receiving a decision to file an objection — a Widerspruch (§ 84 SGG). Sent to an address abroad, the period is normally three months. Where the decision carried no instructions on how to challenge it, or wrong ones, it is usually a year.
The objection procedure itself costs nothing. There is no fee, and you do not need a lawyer to file one. That asymmetry — free to object, permanent if you do not — is the reason to file first and work out the detail afterwards. Work out your exact date here.
2. How to file an objection
It does not need to be well argued to be valid. It needs to be in time, in writing, and identifiable. Include:
- your name, address and the reference number (Aktenzeichen or Kundennummer);
- the date of the decision you are objecting to;
- the sentence "Hiermit lege ich Widerspruch gegen den Bescheid vom [date] ein.";
- optionally, that grounds will follow ("Die Begründung reiche ich nach.").
That last line is the useful one. It preserves the deadline while you gather documents or find help — you do not have to have your full argument ready inside the month.
Send it so you can prove it arrived, and keep a copy. If you hand it in at the office, ask for a stamped receipt on your copy.
3. If they want money back
A demand to repay benefit (Erstattungsbescheid) is frightening, especially when the sums are large and the reasoning is impenetrable. These decisions are challengeable like any other, and the grounds are often practical rather than legal:
- income was attributed to the wrong month, or counted twice;
- a change was in fact reported, and the office has it on file;
- the overpayment arose from the office's own error, which affects whether it can be reclaimed at all;
- household members' income was miscounted, or people counted as a household who are not one.
Separately from challenging it, repayment can often be spread over instalments. Do not let a demand you cannot pay become a reason to avoid opening the post.
4. Sanctions and reductions
Benefit can be reduced for missing appointments or failing to meet obligations. These decisions turn on details that are frequently wrong: whether you were properly informed of the consequences in advance, whether the invitation reached you, and whether you had good reason — illness, childcare, a language barrier, a clashing appointment.
"Good cause" is a real legal concept, not a plea for sympathy. If there was a reason, say it, in writing, within the month.
5. Health insurance refusals
Refusals from a Krankenkasse — a treatment, an aid, a rehabilitation measure, sick pay — follow the same objection route and the same one-month period.
One provision is worth knowing: statutory health insurers must decide applications within fixed periods, and where they neither decide nor tell you why they need longer, an application can be treated as approved. Delay is not neutral, and a decision that arrived very late may be vulnerable for that reason alone.
Refusals are also commonly based on an assessment by the medical service. You are entitled to know what that assessment said, and to put forward evidence from your own doctors against it.
6. If the objection is rejected
You then receive a Widerspruchsbescheid, which opens a further one-month window to bring the matter before the social court (Sozialgericht).
Proceedings before the social courts are free of court fees for claimants in these matters, and if you win, your reasonable legal costs are generally reimbursed. Legal aid is available where income is low. The financial risk of going to the social court is far lower than most people assume — this is a deliberately accessible part of German law.
7. What to do this week
- Find the date on the envelope and count one month.
- File the objection now, even in one sentence, with grounds to follow.
- Ask for the file — you have a right of access to what the office holds on you.
- Keep every letter, including the envelopes.
- Do not stop attending appointments while you object.
- Get advice on the substance once the deadline is safe.
A note on the language
These letters are hard to read for native speakers too — that is not a failing on your part. The decision is usually near the top, the reasoning in the middle, and the part that matters most, the instructions on how to challenge it, at the very bottom. If you read nothing else, read the bottom.