Landmark judgement establishes tougher Italian alimony rules

Rome, May 11 (IANS/AKI) Ex-spouses in Italy will no longer have a legal right to maintenance payments that give them the same standard of living they enjoyed during their marriage, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation has ruled.

"The ex-spouse has no juridically relevant or protected interest to conserve the matrimonial tenor of life," the court's judges said in a Wednesday ruling made public on Thursday.

Alimony payments should be based purely on guaranteeing "the economic independence or self-sufficiency of the spouse who requests it," the judges said.

"If it is determined that (a former spouse) is economically independent or effectively is capable of being so, the right (to maintenance) must not be recognised," said the ruling.

Spouses applying for maintenance will have to be means tested, taking into consideration whether they have a house and are capable of working.

The court said the change in how alimony was calculated was needed to "overcome the patriarchal view of marriage as a "set-up for life".

Modern marriage was normally an "act of freedom and personal responsibility" and should be completely "dissolvable" meaning ex-spouses were not responsible for a partner's possible loss of earnings during the marriage, said the judges.

The judges said the ruling was also necessary because obliging people to pay hefty alimony sums could constitute "an obstacle to starting a new family," a right guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Supreme Court ruling was initiated by the case of former Italian minister of economy and finance Vittorio Grilli and his American businesswoman ex-wife Lisa Lowenstein, who had an acrimonious divorce in 2013 that led to a legal wrangle over alimony payments.

The landmark ruling could signal an end to massive divorce settlements such as the 1.4 million euros a month maintenance cheque that media magnate Silvio Berlusconi's ex-wife Veronica Lario obtained in 2009.

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