In Italy, summertime is for divorce
Elisabetta Povoledo/IHT IHT
Thursday, August 7, 2003
MILAN August traditionally finds Italians swapping their Armani suits
for swimsuits and hunkering down to the serious business of basking in
the sun. But for Maretta Scoca, it is the season to be busy.
"I'm at the seashore with two cellular phones that are always turned on
in case someone needs to reach me urgently," said Scoca, speaking from a
beach in Sardinia. "I'm constantly on call, like a doctor."
But when Scoca, a family lawyer in Rome, gets a call, it is because a
marriage is past the point of fixing. And in Italy, where in recent
years divorce rates have been steadily sneaking up to those of other
European countries, summer is bust-up season.
"It's not the heat, but because couples spend more time together," she
said. "They can scrutinize the reasons they don't get along and blow
them out of proportion. So more people want to split up."
Last year, Italy recorded 104,896 separations and 50,828 divorces. That
was a 45 percent increase from the 71,969 separations in 2000 and a 35
percent increase from the 37,573 divorces that year. Compared with 1995,
separations in 2000 were up 37.5 percent and divorces were up 39
percent.
Still, the divorce rate for Italian couples in 2000 was only 13.7 per
100 marriages in 2000, similar to that of Ireland, but far below that of
Belgium, 59.9 per 100, and Britain, 50.5 per 100.
But with the trend in Italy showing no sign of reversal, the recent
postponement of a bill that would make divorce proceedings easier and
faster has prompted a flurry of accusations that the center-right
majority is out of touch with its constituents, who are politically
conservative but liberal in matters of the heart.
The bill, which would reduce the period of legal separation before a
divorce from three years to one, was presented to the lower house last
year by the Democratic Left, the largest center-left opposition party,
and has been waiting to be voted on since March. It was postponed each
month, and is now scheduled for a vote in September, when Parliament
resumes.
"In theory the bill keeps slipping because priority is given to more
pressing items on the agenda," said Elena Montecchi, the Democratic Left
lawmaker who introduced the bill. "But really the majority is giving in
to strong pressures from the Catholic world."
Supporters of the changes to the divorce legislation argue that the
Roman Catholic Church still has not recovered from losing the
hard-fought battle over divorce, which was legalized in Italy only in
1970 and confirmed in a popular referendum in 1974. In fact, the waiting
period between the request for legal separation and the request for
divorce, originally five years and reduced to three in 1987, was
introduced as a "period of reflection" for the couple in a thinly veiled
concession to the church. Given Italy's notoriously glutted and sluggish
justice system, that means that most divorces take four to five years to
be made final if both spouses agree, and much longer if contested.
"For the Catholic Church, marriage can't be dissolved, so all the better
to make it difficult to divorce," said Cesare Rimini, a Catholic family
law expert, speaking from a beach near Cinque Terre along the
northwestern coast. "The church may only be doing its job," he said,
"but the fact is that many Catholics are not with the church on this
issue."
Rimini argues that the divorce law is discriminatory.
"Anyone who can afford to can go to another European country and set up
residency there. In six or seven months they can file for divorce and
have it recognized in Italy," he said, adding that "divorce tourism" was
common among the well-to-do. "This is unjust," he said.
Calling the current divorce law "sadistic," Chiara Saraceno, a sociology
professor at the University of Turin, pointed to recent statistics
showing that an increasing number of separations are taking place during
the first five years of married life, especially in the first year.
"Couples that split early tend to be younger, so it makes sense that
they want to start a new relationship without waiting a long time," she
said.
Saraceno accused lawmakers of being out of touch with Italian society.
"What's striking is that Italy has demonstrated increasingly secularized
behavior, including more cohabitation between people who are separated,"
she said. But when it comes to opening the discourse on divorce, she
added, Italy's "politicians feel like they have to listen to the
church."
The church lost little time in making itself heard when the changes to
the divorce laws began to be debated in March, with articles in Catholic
newspapers warning that the fast track further undermined the unity of
the family. Last week, an article in the Vatican house organ,
L'Osservatore Romano, said that the law should not be touched, arguing
that the three-year interval had been conceived as a period of "serious
reflection on a dramatic and disruptive act." Lawmakers with Italy's
small Catholic centrist parties and with the rightist National Alliance
have pledged to vote against the proposed changes.
But the bill does have some supporters among the center-right majority
and was presented to Parliament by a member of Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. Stefania Prestagiacomo, the equal
opportunity minister, also with Forza Italia, concurred that the
three-year separation period was too long. "It's devastating for parents
and children," she told the Milan daily Corriere della Sera. "The only
ones who gain are lawyers," she said, adding that the government was
also examining possible measures to streamline divorce proceedings.
The proposed bill, said Montecchi of the Democratic Left, "is an act
that puts an end to a family that's already finished." She said she had
received hundreds of e-mails urging her to put the bill through. "We
have to ask ourselves whether we are helping anyone by keeping people
together even after their love dies," she said. "Frankly, that's not our
role as representatives of Italy."
International Herald Tribune
Copyright © 2003 The International Herald
Tribune |
FAMILY LAW -- WHICH COUNTRY'S LAW APPLIES? |
DIVORCE IN ITALY
Based
on 1st Infantry Division, Legal Assistance Information. This information
is only basic and is not intended to serve as a substitute for personal
consultation with an attorney.
A. Separation.
There are two types of legal separation in Italy. The first is
consensual separation, which stems from a mutual agreement between
husband and wife, and which is then approved by the court. The second
is judicial separation, in which hearings and discussions are normally
involved before an agreement is reached and the judge determines which
spouse is responsible for the failure of the marriage.
Divorce
Overview.
Divorce in Italy may be obtained on one of the following grounds: After
the court has approved consensual separation; after judicial separation;
when one spouse has been sentenced for certain criminal offenses; when
one spouse is a foreign citizen and has obtained a divorce or has
married again abroad; or when the marriage has not been consummated. If
the divorce is based on separation, it may only be obtained after three
years of continuous separation beginning on the date the spouses
appeared before the court in the proceedings for legal separation.
Other
Issues.
The judge will determine which spouse will have custody of the children,
if any, and establish the type and amount of support the other spouse
will provide. At any time after the separation, the spouses may request
a review of the conditions on which the separation was granted,
especially in regard to the exercise of parental authority, amount and
type of child support. Spousal support may also be sought if the spouse
seeking support was not at fault for the separation and has no means or
insufficient means for his or her support. The same comments as above
apply to division of American retirement benefits, especially military
pensions; this can only be done by U.S. courts.
Divorce
Procedure.
A petition to obtain the dissolution of the marriage must be filed with
the court within the territorial jurisdiction of which the petitioner
resides, or before any court of the Republic of Italy if both spouses
reside abroad. Following the divorce, the woman normally loses the last
name of the former husband. The procedure is as follows:
First, the parties have to obtain a separation decree.
This is mandatory. Separation can be consensual or judicially imposed.
In general, consensual-separation divorce proceed fairly quickly;
judicial procedures, on the other hand, are more time‑consuming and
depend upon the individual circumstances.
After at least a three‑year separation, one of the
parties may file for divorce. They do not have to file for this, but
obviously it’s the only way they can get remarried. There is no time
limit on getting a divorce.
A joint divorce, where both parties agree, follows a
quick hearing. The judge makes a decision, which is finalized
approximately one month after the decision, but this time period
varies. There are no guarantees on the length of time necessary for any
of these processes. An estimate of cost, including attorneys, would be
between 2 and 3 million lire.
The judicial divorce takes longer, depending upon the
how many and what kind of questions need to be resolved by the court.
No cost estimate is available for this, since it depends on the
questions and issues involved.
An attorney is probably necessary for both types of
divorce. The parties should obtain an attorney in the same manner as
they would back in the U.S. -- referral from another attorney, telephone
directory, advertising, or references from friends or relatives.
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