Honorary Professor Dr Christian Seiler

Education:

Primary school: Mühldorf/Mößling (1975 to 1979)

Secondary school: Ruperti-Gymnasium, Mühldorf/Inn (1979 to 1988)

Degrees and qualifications:

Studied law at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (1988 to 1993)

First State Examination: September 1992

Legal traineeship: Traunstein Regional Court, April 1993 to August 1995

Second State Examination: November 1994

Career: Since September 1995, Bavarian judiciary

1995 to 1997: Probationary judge at the Landshut Regional Court

1997 to 2001: Landshut Public Prosecutor’s Office

2001 to 2003: Judge at Landshut Magistrates’ Court (family court judge)

2003 to 2010: Full-time head of the working group for trainee lawyers at the Judicial Training Centre in Munich

2008: Judge at the Munich Higher Regional Court

2011 to 2017 Member of the 12th Civil Division (family matters)

2017 to 2021 Director of Freising Local Court

2021 to 2022: Judge at the Bavarian Higher Regional Court, Munich (member of the 1st Civil Division and the Public Procurement Division)

Since 10 June 2022: Presiding Judge at the Munich Higher Regional Court, 12th Civil Division (family matters)

Other activities:

1989 to 1992: Scholarship holder of the Hanns Seidl Foundation

2004 to 2006 PhD at the University of Passau under Prof. Dr Müßig:
‘The concept of a gift within the framework of Section 2287 of the German Civil Code (BGB)’

2006–2013: Lecturer at the University of Passau

Since 2013: Working group leader at the DFGT (German Family Court Conference)

Since 2014: Member of the Academic Association for Family Law

Since 2014: Lecturer at the University of Regensburg

Since 2016: Member of the DFGT Reform Commission; since 2019: Deputy Chair

Since September 2019: Co-editor of FamRZ

Publications

Doctoral thesis:
‘The Concept of a Gift in Section 2287 of the German Civil Code (BGB)’ – Zerb-Verlag 2006;

Commentaries/Textbooks

• Lawyers’ Commentary on the BGB (1st and 2nd editions) – subsequently the Nomos Commentary on the BGB, Volume 5: Sections 2286 to 2300 of the BGB
• Family and Inheritance Law Examination Papers (Luchterhand-Verlag – now Vahlen-Verlag) – Inheritance Law Examination Papers
• Family Procedural Law (Luchterhand-Verlag – now Vahlen-Verlag) by Heintschel-Heinegg/Seiler/Siede
• The New FamFG (Kroiß/Seiler) – published by Nomos, 1st and 2nd editions (2008/2009)
• Co-author of the Handbook for Specialist Lawyers in family law since the 7th edition (2009/2011/2013/2015), Chapter 1 (procedural law) and Chapter 6 (child maintenance); since 2015: also parental maintenance and vicarious liability; from 2018 (11th edition) onwards, only parental maintenance and vicarious liability.
• Co-author of *Thomas/Putzo* since the 32nd edition (2011): initially Book 8, Enforcement – since the 33rd edition (2012), additionally Legal Aid and Assistance with Court Costs; since the 34th edition (2013) also enforcement in family matters (Sections 86 et seq. FamFG); from the 37th edition (2016) additionally covering arbitration proceedings and the EU Enforcement and Preservation Regulation; from the 38th edition additionally covering Sections 128 to 144 together with Sections 946 et seq.; from the 39th edition: additionally Sections 145–165; from the 40th edition: additionally Sections 606–614 (model declaratory proceedings); from the 41st edition onwards, additionally Sections 253–347; from the 42nd edition onwards, additionally Sections 348–605a, Sections 1076–1078; 1097–1104; Introduction to the FamFG; Sections 38–48 FamFG; Sections 58–75 FamFG; from the 43rd edition onwards, Sections 238 et seq. FamFG – removal of Book 10 of the ZPO;
• Contribution in Götz/Schnitzler, 40 Years of Family Law Reform, CH Beck 2017, pp. 357–371: unaccompanied refugee minors – practical issues relating to custody and access rights.
• Niepmann/Seiler: Case law on the amount of maintenance, 14th edition 2019
• Contribution to the commemorative volume for Dose: Gieseking Verlag, 2022: Maintenance law aspects relating to influencers, pp. 187–197.

Articles/journal contributions:

• FamRZ 2012, 258 et seq. Bausch/Gutdeutsch/Seiler: On the alternating custody model in maintenance law
• FF 2014, 136: Parents’ maintenance claims against the child
• FamRZ 2015, 1845: The alternating custody model – maintenance law issues
• FF 2017, 355: Maintenance law issues in connection with blended families
• FamRZ 2018, 1130: Is there a need for reform in the law on custody, access and maintenance?
• FamRZ 2022, 1338: Götz/Seiler: A change of system in maintenance law?
• Since 2018: Niepmann/Seiler: The development of maintenance law:

- Since early 2018: NJW 2018, 2603

- Since mid-2018: NJW 2019, 643

- Since early 2019: NJW 2019, 2581

- Since mid-2019: NJW 2020, 654

- Since early 2020: NJW 2020, 2597

- Since mid-2020: NJW 2021, 673

- Since the start of 2021: NJW 2021, 2622

• Various comments on decisions of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) and Higher Regional Courts (OLG) in FamRZ, FF or FamRB, e.g.:

- FamRZ 2021, 1968; note on BGH XII ZB 474/20

- FamRZ 2021, 191; note on BGH XII ZB 201/19

- FF 2021, Issue 2; note on BGH XII ZB 482/19

- FamRZ 2020, 1829; note on OLG Saarbrücken 6 UF 49/20

- FamRZ 2020, 579; note on BGH XII ZB 580/18

- FamRZ 2020, 447; note on BGH IX ZB 83/18

- FamRZ 2019, 700; note on Federal Court of Justice (BGH) XII ZB 364/18 and X ZR 115/16

- FamRZ 2018, 263; note on BGH XII ZB 503/16

- FamRZ 2017, 1132; note on BGH XII ZB 415/16

- FamRB 2017, 170; note on BGH XII ZB 118/16

- FF 2017, 116; note on BGH XII ZB 565/15

- FamRZ 2016, 1057; note on BGH XII ZB 45/15

- FamRZ 2016, 891; note on BGH XII ZB 693/14

- FamRZ 2015, 2152 Note on BGH XII ZB 62/14

- FamRZ 2015, 1373 Note on BGH XII ZB 251/14

- FamRZ 2015, 837 Note on BGH XII ZB 242/14

- FamRZ 2014, 636 Note on BGH XII ZB 25/13

- FamRZ 2012, 1802 Note on BGH XII ZB 84/10