Civil unions, the break-up of the first heterosexual marriage is not enough for the cheque
The decision to move in with one of the three daughters to live with her partner at the beginning of the civil union was not decisive
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Key points
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Having left behind a heterosexual marriage in which three daughters were born and having invested in the relationship, is not enough for the ex to obtain the maintenance allowance from her partner at the end of the civil union. Nor is it useful to play the depression card if there is no proof of incapacity for work, as the woman had a job during the union. An occupation she had voluntarily left in order not to lose the disability pension.
The decision to leave work to keep the pension
.The Cassazione (judgment 24930), rejected the appeal of the lady, who considered herself the economically weaker party of the couple, against the court's decision to deny monthly maintenance. The first instance judges had, in fact, verified that the obligee was also without income at the time of the first instance decision because, although she had worked previously, she had incurred a series of debts during the civil union. The no decision was therefore based on the "substantial and almost total lack of income of both parties", a condition that did not allow for financial support to be offered to the ex-partner.
Needless for the plaintiff to mention the unequal conditions with her ex who had a job, a house and a car, while she only had a disability pension.
The maintenance allowance has a welfare function
.The Supreme Court, however, found a total absence of financial income of the ex from whom maintenance was sought. The judges of legitimacy recall that in civil unions, the recognition of maintenance allowance - which has a welfare function and, in equal measure, a compensatory and equalizing function - "requires the ascertainment of the inadequacy of the ex-partner's means and the impossibility of obtaining them for objective reasons".
In the judgment, it weighs, in particular, the comparison "of the economic and financial conditions of the parties, in consideration of the contribution made by the applicant to the running of the family life and the formation of the common patrimony, as well as the personal contribution of each of the former spouses, in relation to the duration of the marriage and the age of the applicant".
