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When a spouse’s income exceeds €1,000, the Milan court rules that she is no longer entitled to spousal support.
She will no longer be able to receive assistance from his ex-wife, who earns around one thousand euros a month, for a total of 11,528.41 euros each year.
Yes.
The divorce process in Italy is very complicated, but it is the only country where the divorce process is divided into two separate phases.
Divorce is not as easy as most people think it is, and the way things work in Italy is also different.
In the coming posts this week, I am going to discuss what you need to know before you go to court, what to do if you need to see a lawyer, the process of divorcing, and what happens after the divorce.
Why That Amount, Exactly?
The advantage for people who can’t afford a lawyer and must rely on the state to cover the costs of legal representation is limited to those who earn less than this amount.
It has been held that this restriction can be utilized to determine whether or not a divorce allowance can be granted to the divorcing spouse.
Two days ago, the Court of Milan issued a very important clarification; completes the change began on May 10 with the already historic Supreme Court ruling that the ex-assistance wife’s must no longer provide the same level of life as the pair enjoyed during their marriage, but economic self-sufficiency instead ( read divorce maintenance to those who can support themselves).
According to the Milanese judge, the ex-wife who makes more than a thousand euros a month should not be responsible for her husband’s legal fees.
Divorced people will hear the phrase “economic self-sufficiency” a lot from now on.
No maintenance can be paid if the spouse with the lowest income is self-sufficient, which means he can sustain himself on his own.
Otherwise, the divorced person must pay maintenance to his former spouse.
However, in some cases, a judge may decide that it’s unfair for a woman to have to pay maintenance to a man who has a higher income than she does.
The law is trying to help women in such situations.
According to the Milanese judge, the ex-wife who makes more than a thousand euros a month should not be responsible for her husband’s legal fees.
She might ask for a divorce allowance if he can’t work or hasn’t declined a job offer throughout the marriage.
When is an ex-spouse truly independent, however?
It was decided on May 10th that a number of criteria should be considered when determining whether or not the wife is capable of handling things on her own.
How to establish that an ex-spouse is self-sufficient was covered in depth in the article on maintenance, but the key aspects are summarized here.
- Having an income from work (self-employed or dependent);
- owning houses (even though not rented) that can generate income;
- owning moveable assets like stocks, securities, and shares in companies;
- receiving help from parents; obtaining the assignment of a marital home, which is definitely an asset because it eliminates the need to pay rent, are all examples of assets.
The question of when a spouse’s salary can be considered sufficient to support him has not yet been answered.
To put it another way, at what level of income can a person consider themselves financially independent?
If you’d want further clarity on this, you may listen to the Court of Milan’s (Dr. Buffone) explanation: there’s a specific and universally applicable monetary threshold of free legal assistance, which amounts to about $1,000 each month.
The annual total comes to €11,528.41.
Divorce allowances will no longer be available to anyone living under this particular roof.
Is it possible?
Or if the ex-husband has a lot more money, does it matter?
Yes, without a doubt!
Simply because it does not guarantee a similar standard of living to what the couple enjoyed during their marriage, the newly implemented reform is unique in that it is not dependent on the income capacity of the wealthier spouse, but instead is solely focused on providing financial security for their partner who is in the most dire circumstances.
Therefore, a situation may occur where one of the two spouses is forced to fork up a few hundred euros in maintenance against a salary of several thousand euros.
The divorce payment cannot, in other words, be abused as a “mechanism to bridge the financial disparities between the former spouses”.
In certain parts of Italy (like the south), 11,528.41 euros may be more than enough, but in larger cities with higher inflation, it would be almost nothing (think Rome and Milan).
This means that in addition to the free legal aid cap, “the average income obtained in the region where the applicant lives and lives” may be taken into account, as explained in the ordinance.
This ensures that the roof may be customized and adapted to suit the needs of the building in question.
“Standard of living” has been abolished in the divorce allowance determination process, therefore now the most impoverished ex-spouse will only be eligible for the divorce allowance if they are able to afford to hire a lawyer, or if they can afford to hire a lawyer at a reasonable cost.
