Our empirical results indicate that parental separation works as a strong ‘push effect’ particularly on the timing of leaving the parental home and moving-in together with a partner. However, this push effect on cohabitation does not apply to marriage. Here we find no effects of childhood transitions on marriage rate. With regard to the transition rate to divorce, our data confirm the well-known hypothesis of the intergenerational transmission of divorce. We find that those who experienced a parental separation have a lower probability of staying married. Looking at specific age effects, we find that experiencing a parental separation before age seven is an influencing factor in regard to timing of a first cohabitation as well as on the risk of having an own divorce later in life.