Marriage is considered the foundation of society. World-wide jurisdictions, subsequently, have created several bodies of law that tackles the legal issues that may concern the families such as separation or divorce. In fact, the dissolution of marriage (the termination of the marital union) is considered a crucial part of world-wide family laws. In this sense, separation and divorce are events that trigger the reorganisation of legal duties and responsibilities also including issues regarding redistribution of property, child custody and support, alimony, and visiting rights. Under these circumstances, VGS lawyers strongly suggest to consul with a trusted professional that may deal with such vast range of issues.
In Italy, the first Divorce Law was introduced in 1970, and current Divorce law structure is given by the Legislative Decree n.21/2018; which amended the original law of 1970. At European Level, it is relevant to understand what is the applicable law and the correct jurisdiction in those cases where two or more EU Member States are involved. For instance, the cases where spouses have different citizenships or have different residences.
The Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 states what applicable law might be selected by the spouses. In details, spouses may opt for;
- The Law of State where spouses are habitually resident at the time the agreement is concluded;
- The Law of State where spouses were habitually resident;
- The Law of State of nationality of either spouse at the time the agreement is concluded;
- The Law of the
Additionally, in the event the law of the forum so provides, the spouses are entitled to designate the applicable law before the court. In this case, such designation shall be recorded in court according to the law of the forum.
Another situation relates to the possibility that
- Both spouses are Italian citizens and at least one of them resides in an EU state outside Italy;
- Both spouses are citizens of other EU Members and one or both are Italian residents
In these cases, Article 3 of Regulation EU 1111/2019 will provide the rules and parameters to identify the correct jurisdiction.
As VGS lawyers professional confirm, the crucial factor in obtaining divorce is the demonstration that spiritual and material communion between the spouses disappeared and can no longer be rebuilt. However, before starting a divorce proceeding, Italian Law requires spouse to obtain a court order that declares judicial separation. Judicial separation might be invoked by both or one of the spouses, regardless their will. This implies that the cohabitation between spouses became unbearable or there might be prejudices for the upbringing of the child.
Under these circumstances, divorce might be asked only after twelve months from the appearance of the spouses before the Court in their judicial separation case. In case of mutual separation, spouses will only need to wait six months. The crucial factor of this 12/6 months period is the material separation of the spouses. In this sense, any interruption of the separation period results in the cancellation of the time lasted for the divorce.
Italian divorce proceedings might be either consensual or contentious. In the first case, spouses agree on the conditions of the divorce. Normally, consensual divorce proceedings involve a single hearing after which a divorce order is issued. Contrarily, in contentious divorce proceedings spouses disagree on the conditions of divorce. Such disagreement may touch alimony, child support, property rights, visiting rights. Subsequently, this proceeding usually involves an ordinary process which duration depends on spouses’ litigiousness.
It is thus fundamental that a reliable family lawyer may advise you in relation to your case. In this sense, VGS lawyers are able to offer legal advice in relation to divorce and judicial separation, child support, child abduction and custodial parent rights.