No more automatic lifelong divorce payments

Italian high court ends automatic lifelong divorce payments in landmark ruling. Supreme Court judgment overturns 30 years of case law: from now on the benchmark for levels of maintenance will be based on an assessment of the independence or economic self-sufficiency of the former spouse requesting it.

Divorcees who have independent means or are capable of working will not automatically receive maintenance payments that in the past were assessed on the basis that ex-spouses have a right to retain the same ‘tenor of life,’ after divorce, the judges of the Court of Cassation said.