The law provides for few reasons of immediate divorce (e.g. incestuous relationships; total incapacity of the spouse(s); change of sex, life imprisonment etc.) but these rarely occur. Therefore, the dissolution of a marriage is normally a result of two separate proceedings taking place one after the other. A separation proceedings, first, a divorce proceedings, second. Unlike other countries, a couple that wishes to divorce in Italy needs to seek an Order from the President of the local Court (Tribunale) to live in a state of separation, regardless of the presence of children, properties, or length of the matrimony.
This application for separation must be filed with the Local Court (art. 706 civil procedure code). Separation and divorce in Italy are no-faults based proceedings. However successfully blaming one party for the marriage breakdown may still be important in order to establish the right to, and amount of, ancillary relief (maintenance).
Joint applications for “Consent to separate” can be filed with the Court in the same way as listed above, without the need to list a specific reason for the marriage breakdown (“unreasonable behavior” is enough and this is then listed as “intolerable continued cohabitation”).
Generally speaking, the approval of the separation from the Court will follow within two or three months. No minimum standards for division of assets are set by the law when a joint application is filed as long as there are no children. The parties can submit any legal arrangement whatsoever. The Court will be ready to overrule a Consent Order followings the separation agreement only when this is contrary to the interests of the children. When an agreement is not possible, Separation and/or Divorce Order will be the result of a contentious proceedings.
Children must be supported by both parents until they become financially independent. There is no age limit for financial independence, conventionally a maximum age of 26 (in case of University studies) is considered appropriate. The house stays with the children normally until they become independent. Full ownership of the family home must be passed to the original owner as soon as the children become independent, unless the custodial parent is also the owner or co-owner (in case of a common property) of the house. Shared custody of children is the default Court decision since 2006, except when there are serious grounds for challenging this request (e.g. when one spouse is addicted to alcohol, drugs or behaves dangerously). Finally, there are still remnants of the “fault based” proceedings in Italian family law.
The partner who is ‘not to blame’ for the family breakdown is entitled to personal maintenance -if he is in need- in case of separation or divorce. This implies not only an alimony but a higher monthly amount for her/his support. This ancillary relief can be paid as a lump sum, called Alimony in Gross. When Alimony in Gross is paid no further financial redress can ever be awarded by the Court for any reason whatsoever (art. 9 bis II alinea, Divorce Law)
Civil partnerships and civil unions are now regulated by the Statute issued on May 20 2016 Civil Unions are meant to be formed only by same-sex couples. They produce quite the same rights than a marriage (still some differences survive). Spouses can choose joint ownership of assets. A divorce is needed to resolve it. No adoption is formally allowed, save a case by case decision from the Courts. Our Courts may allow adoption for single parents, in special cases, and there is no reason why they should not allow the "civil-unioneers" to do the same. Registered Civil Partnerships are meant to be formed by eterosexuals and homosexuals. Same residency must be declared to the Registrar of the Municipality. A contract of cohabitation may be drafted by a lawyer. In case of split-up the party in need is entitled to receive survival alimonies (a smaller form of support). De facto couples (unregulated cohabitations) receive little protection as such under Italian Law unless there are children.
Legislative Decree n. 154/2013 equalised the legal position of all children regardless of the marital status of their parents. An example is the housing regulation described earlier and is applied equally to children of de facto and married couples. Few other regulations, mainly local administrative regulations, grant basic aid to unmarried and unregistered couples in the absence of children.