Especially when it comes to international and European law, I also deal with family law, in team with the lawyers in my law firm.

It is well known that for some years now in Italy it is not imperative to go to court to get divorced, as it is possible to do so by means of assisted mediation agreements, in which lawyers intervene, or directly before the civil register office. Marriages between spouses of different nationalities are now frequent within the European Union and there is therefore an interest in them being regulated uniformly throughout the Union. 

It happened that two people of Italian and German nationality married in Germany and after a few years decided to divorce in Italy, precisely by the simplified mode of extra-judicial divorce before the civil register office. Subsequently, however, the German municipal offices refused to record the divorce in Germany because, according to them, it had to be confirmed by a German court.

On 15 November 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union intervened, stating that a divorce decree drawn up by a civil register office of the Member State of origin, containing a divorce agreement concluded by the spouses and confirmed by them before that registrar, in accordance with the conditions laid down by the law of that Member State, is a 'decision' that is also valid for the German state. This is because "the Italian civil register office is competent to pronounce the divorce in a legally binding manner by recording in writing the divorce agreement drawn up by the spouses after carrying out an examination."

For the whole document, please click here: https://www.cortedicassazione.it/cassazione-resources/resources/cms/documents/Cgue_646_20-2022.pdf

An important decision, which, also in divorce matters, will make it easier to implement the will of persons wishing to divorce as well as to apply the same rules throughout the European Union

 Last update February 2023