Alimony in divorce in the Italian Legal System

The art. 5, Act 898/1970, as amended by the art.10, Act 74/1987, ruled the financial support for divorcing couples. The acknowledgement of the right to the alimony in divorce has great influence on the whole economic organization as consequence of the dissolution of marriage. The paper aims to clarify some parts of the rule that are particularly difficult to interpret, through the analysis of the different opinions of the doctrine and Courts making a comparison with the principal models of the European legal System. The first point regards the consequences to the choice of the Italian legislator to ascribe, in the new act, to the alimony in divorce a nature for living support only for maintenance, abandoning the previous rewarding and compensatory nature. The second issue refers to the economic conditions of the beneficiary as measure for the attribution of the alimony in divorce. For instance, while the act refers to the “lack of adequate means”, Courts intend it sometimes as “the same standard of living enjoyed during the marriage”, sometimes as “guarantee of a decent and autonomous life”. In the third part, the paper aims to classify the criteria followed by the Italian judge on according the “quantum” of the alimony in divorce on a discretionary basis but depending upon economic condition of the partners, reasons of the decision, contribution of each one to the family life, length of marriage