Former cohabitees, yes to the suspension of the statute of limitations in civil proceedings

In civil proceedings the suspension of the statute of limitations must also be applied to de facto cohabitants. This is what the Constitutional Court has now affirmed with sentence No 7 deposited yesterday, upholding the questions of constitutional legitimacy of Article 2941(1)(1) of the Civil Code, raised by the Court of Florence.

The latter had been faced with a dispute concerning the non-return of a loan in money between persons no longer living together. The non-recognition of the suspension of the limitation period would have rendered, unlike what would have happened in the same case between former spouses, the loan, legally classified as a loan, no longer due, because of the passing of the ten-year period. The Constitutional Court recalls that it had already addressed the question in 1998, declaring it unfounded. Now, however, this approach must be revised, on the basis of the evolution of both case law and legislation. "In particular," the judgment observes, "the recognition of de facto cohabitation as a family formation protected by Article 2 of the Constitution, in the context of which affectio and solidarity between the members deserve the widest protection, has gradually consolidated. (...) Finally, also in the light of regulatory and jurisprudential developments, the compatibility between the suspension of the limitation period and the characteristics of the de facto cohabitation has become apparent".

The Court points out that it has already ascertained that de facto cohabitations now prevail numerically over families based on marriage, noting, with judgment no. 148 of 2024, the affirmation of a pluralistic conception of the family, first in society and then in jurisprudence, thanks also to the impetus given by the European Court of Human Rights (judgment of 21 July 2015, Oliari and others v. Italy). On the regulatory level, obviously central to the Consulta's reading is Law No 76 of 2016, where the notion of de facto cohabitees was followed by a systematic intervention to provide rights and protections.

Thus, yesterday's ruling warns that, through the institution of suspension, the law recognises that, in the presence of a stable affective bond of a couple, the exercise of acts interrupting the statute of limitations, "which prelude a possible litigation and are perceived as detrimental to mutual trust", is not required. The objective is then the protection of theaffective bond of a couple that the Constitution protects both when founded on an act such as marriage and when it is the result of the stability of the cohabiting relationship.

Finally, the Court clarifies that the suspension of the limitation period is applicable to de facto cohabitation, even when this has not been registered and includes both stable cohabitation between persons of different sexes and that between persons of the same sex.