Ricerc@Sapienza

The privatization of the divorce in Italy

Italian law gives the right to a maintenance allowance to the spouse who does not have “mezzi adeguati”. The assumption consisting in the “mancanza di mezzi adeguati”, originally understood by the Joint Sections of the Italian Cassation of 1990 as a lack of resources to maintain the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage, was understood by the Court of Cassation in 2017 as a lack of resources of guaranteeing independence or economic self-sufficiency.

Over the last twenty years, the intimate sphere and the conjugal behaviour of Italians is radically changed. Undoubtedly, the increase of number both of legal separations and divorces, as well as defining the presence of a new and emerging phenomenon in our national context (precisely, the conflict within the couple and the resulting conjugal instability), can be seen as an indicator of this change.