What do I need to arrange for a birth?
Checklist
If you’re having a baby, you’ll need to take care of quite a few administrative tasks.
Some things have to be arranged before the birth, while others can be put on
hold until later.
Nine to-do’s before the birth
Arrange childcare
Arrange this as early as possible during the pregnancy, because the number of places is limited (especially in cities). Be sure to check with your municipality if there’s an enrolment system for municipal childcare services.
Inform your employer of your pregnancy
It’s best to let them know in person first and provide the medical certificate from your gynaecologist later.
Apply for a maternity allowance or childbirth
allowance
As a parent, you’ll receive a childbirth allowance (i.e. maternity allowance) when a child is born. You can apply to the child benefit fund for this allowance as early as the sixth month of pregnancy.
Open a savings account
If you’d like to include an account number on the birth announcement card for people to give gift money, be sure to open a kids account. You can put the savings account in your child’s name after the birth.
Acknowledge parentage of the child
If you are unmarried, the father can acknowledge parentage of the child at the local administrative office before the child is born, provided the mother consents to it.
Enquire about maternity care
If you need extra help in the weeks after giving birth, you can turn to maternity care. Several agencies offer this type of care and your health insurance fund will reimburse some of the cost.
Apply for maternity leave
Your doctor will provide a certificate verifying that you are medically unfit to work. You should send this certificate to your health insurance fund.
Visit your health insurance fund
They usually provide an additional childbirth allowance and a gift.
Prepare your hospital stay before the birth
You can easily report a hospital stay using KBC Mobile or KBC Touch (as early as three months before the birth).
Consider opening a kids account for gifts
Did youknow you can open a savings account for your unborn child?
- Handy on the birth announcement card
- Open it before your child is born and put it in their name later
- Start saving for a financially secure future
After the birth
Register the birth
The doctor or midwife will give you a certificate to register the child’s birth at the registry office of the place of birth. This must be done within 15 days of the child being born. The staff at the registry office will provide you with several copies of the birth certificate, which you’ll need for the purpose of applying for child benefit, a childbirth allowance, etc.
Choose a surname
Since 2014, you can give your child a double-barrelled surname. You can give the child the father’s or co-mother’s surname, your own surname (as mother) or a combination of both names. Indicate your choice when registering the birth.
Notify your health insurance fund
After the birth, notify your health insurance fund and provide them with a copy of the birth certificate.
Apply for a breastfeeding allowance
If you’re breastfeeding, you can also apply for a breastfeeding allowance from your health insurance fund.
Notify the childcare service provider
Be sure to let the childcare service provider know about the birth and, if necessary, arrange a first visit to see the facilities.
Give your child a financial boost
Many parents want to ensure their children get off to a solid financial start by the time they reach young adulthood. Save or invest at your own pace and build up a capital sum for your child later in life. Feel free to ask for more information at your KBC branch.
Inquire about insurance
Do you have supplementary health insurance? Then you can have your child included in the policy. Check with your insurer for this. For any other insurance policies - for example, family insurance - it may also be a good idea to include your child.
Apply for birth leave for your partner
Your partner is entitled to 20 days of birth leave, to be taken without obligation in the 4 months after giving birth. The application is made through the employer.
Child benefit applications
Depending on where you live, you choose a payer for your child benefit. KidsLife operates in both Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. As national child benefit fund they pay the exact amount your child is entitled to every month.
Calculate child benefit? Find out what you are entitled to here!
Child benefit payers by region
- Flanders: growth package through 5 approved payers (KidsLife Flanders, Fons, Infino, MyFamily, Parentia)
- Brussels: child benefits through 5 approved payers (Kidslife, Famiris, Infino, Parentia, Partena)
- Wallonia: child benefits through 5 approved payers (Kidslife, Famiwal, Infino, Parentia, Independent Health Insurance Fund)
- German-speaking Community: payment through the Ministry of the German-speaking Community
More info on KBC Savings Account for Third Parties for your baby on the way
The KBC Savings Account for Third Parties is a category A savings account: a classic savings account with no additional conditions.
Current rates
| Base rate of interest | 0.40% |
| Fidelity bonus | 0.20% |
The rates shown are gross and annualised and can change at any time. Current rates are always shown above or can be obtained from your KBC branch. If the rates change, we will inform you by post or through one of our digital channels.
Savings start earning interest at the base rate on the first calendar day after the transaction date and cease to earn interest from the calendar day on which they are withdrawn. This interest is paid into your account once a year (with a value date of 1 January) or when you close your account
.You receive the fidelity bonus for amounts that remain on the savings account for 12 consecutive full months called the ‘calculation period’. When funds are withdrawn, the accruing fidelity bonuses whose acquisition date is furthest in the future will be the first to be used.
For the first three transfers of funds per year to another regulated savings account at KBC, however, the fidelity bonus will be transferred proportionally if the following conditions are met:
- Both savings accounts have at least one common account holder
- The amount transferred is at least 500 euros
- The funds are not transferred by standing order or automatic savings order
This means that the current 12-month calculation period is not ended, but continues instead on the savings account receiving the funds. In this case, too, the fidelity bonus is only awarded for amounts that remain on the relevant savings accounts for 12 consecutive months.
Every time a fidelity bonus is acquired, a new 12-month calculation period will start. The fidelity bonus rate is the interest rate prevailing on the first day of a new calculation period. That rate is fixed and remains unchanged for the entire 12-month calculation period, except when the fidelity bonus is transferred proportionally. In that case, the fidelity bonus for the remaining period is the interest rate prevailing on the day the funds go into the receiving savings account.
The fidelity bonus will be paid into your account on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October after being acquired in the preceding quarter. Any fidelity bonus acquired will also be paid when you close your account.
What are the KBC Savings Account for Third Parties features?
- Saves on tax
Individuals who are resident in Belgium are exempt from 15% withholding tax, on the first 1,020 euros of interest earned each year (2025 income). Married couples and legal cohabitees are entitled to an exemption of up to 2,040 euros a year (income year 2025) on a joint account.
- Free savings account
There are no charges for opening and managing the account. Receiving printed account statements by post, however, costs you 2.50 euros a month if they are sent monthly or 25 euros a month if sent daily.
- Access your money any time
The KBC Savings Account for Third Parties is an open-ended product. The funds on your savings account can be withdrawn at any time and without charge. The third-party beneficiary contract linked to this account is for a fixed term: you have full say as to when the money can be released to the beneficiary. - Regulated savings account
The KBC Savings Account for Third Parties is a regulated savings account offered by KBC Bank NV, Belgium. It is governed by the laws of Belgium.
Risks
- Insolvency risk: a maximum of 100,000 euros of your aggregate deposits with KBC Bank are guaranteed per person, subject to certain conditions. In the event of KBC’s insolvency (e.g., if it goes into bankruptcy), you run the risk of losing any deposits you have over 100,000 euros, or their amount could be reduced or converted into shares. You can obtain a copy of our ‘Protection of deposits and financial instruments in Belgium’ brochure from your KBC branch or from www.kbc.be/depositprotection.
- Inflation risk: this savings account also has an inflation risk, as sustained price increases can result in the amount deposited losing value.
More information
Before opening a savings account with us, be sure to read our key information for savers.
Complaints
- If you have a complaint, please contact KBC Complaints Management:
- Tel.: 016 43 25 94
- E-mail: complaints@kbc.be
- If the matter fails to be resolved through this channel, you can turn to the Ombudsman in financial conflicts (www.ombudsfin.be). To file a complaint and ensure it is dealt with more quickly, use the complaints form on the Ombudsfin website (www.ombudsfin.be/en/introduce-a-complaint).
More info on family insurance
What is and isn’t covered?
Covered
- Loss, damage or injury caused to other individuals
We will compensate the person who suffered the loss, damage or injury. This applies, among others, to
- any loss, damage or injury caused by your animals to other individuals
- damage to entrusted goods
- Loss, damage or injury caused by the actions of another person
If you take out personal legal assistance insurance, we’ll help you get compensation from the liable party. If they are unable to pay, we’ll pay up to 12 500 euros in compensation. This figure is doubled in the case of bodily injuries.
Not covered
- Loss, damage or injury which you cause to yourself or family members
- Loss, damage or injury resulting from gross negligence on the part of a member of your family aged 18 or older
- Loss, damage or injury caused intentionally by a member of your family aged 16 or older
- Loss, damage or injury caused by your riding horses or by animals that you, as a private individual residing in Belgium, are not allowed to keep
- Fines and out-of-court settlements
- Disputes in which you are involved as the owner or driver of a motor vehicle that is subject to compulsory motor insurance
Compensation and deductible
- For bodily injuries, we provide cover of up to 30 million euros per claim event and there's no deductible to pay.
- We provide cover of up to 10 million euros for material damage (with a compensation limit of 15.000 euros for damage to entrusted goods) and you pay a deductible of 250 euros per claim event.
Good to know
- This product is governed by the laws of Belgium.
Insurance cover under this policy is valid for a term of one year and is tacitly renewed unless you cancel it no later than three months before the main renewal date.
For policies taken out or tacitly renewed on or after 1 October 2024, you have up to two months before the main renewal date to cancel them. As from the second insurance year, you can cancel your insurance at any time, with effect after two months have elapsed from the day after the registered letter was submitted for delivery, the writ was served or the date of the acknowledgement of receipt.- Your intermediary is the first point of contact for any complaints you may have. If no agreement can be reached, please contact KBC Complaints Management, Brusselsesteenweg 100, 3000 Leuven, complaints@kbc.be, tel. 016 43 25 94. If you cannot find a suitable solution, you can contact the Belgian insurance industry's ombudsman service: Ombudsman van de Verzekeringen, de Meeûssquare 35, 1000 Brussels, info@ombudsman-insurance.be, www.ombudsman-insurance.be.
- This does not affect your legal rights.
To request a premium calculation for KBC Family Insurance, visit www.kbc.be, use KBC Touch or KBC Mobile, or contact your Insurance Expert.
KBC Family Insurance is a product provided by KBC Insurance NV – Professor Roger Van Overstraetenplein 2 – 3000 Leuven – Belgium.
VAT BE 0403.552.563 – RLP Leuven – IBAN BE43 7300 0420 0601 – BIC KREDBEBB
Company licensed by the National Bank of Belgium, de Berlaimontlaan 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, for all classes of insurance under code 0014 (Royal Decree of 4 July 1979, Belgian Official Gazette of 14 July 1979).
Member of the KBC group