Historic divorce sentence in Italy

by Roberta Lunghini - 2017.05.10

In Italy, when calculating alimony payments, lifestyle considerations regarding the standard of living during the marriage are no longer valid. This revolutionary decision that flies in the face of years of judicial pronouncements, has just been published by the Supreme Court. According to which new parameters have been established when alimony is being considered (or not) for the partner who is economically less advantaged. The Supreme Judges, in fact, commented that it was necessary to “go beyond the conception of marriage as a means of securing definitive patrimony forever”. Seeing as “at this point in time, marriage has assumed a generally accepted social definition of an act of freedom and of accepting responsibility for oneself, as well as a place for sharing life with someone, but, a situation that could end, nevertheless”. Therefore, it is necessary to consider that “protecting a certain lifestyle that an ex-partner had maintained during marriage should not be viewed as a relevant judicial aim.“