A landmark ruling in Italy’s Highest Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Cassation, has seen the end of the former precedent that often saw parties paying lifelong spousal maintenance. The Supreme Court judgment could mean a deviation from the rule that ex-spouses have a right to retain the same ‘tenor of life’ after separation.

Historically, spousal maintenance orders were common and case law generally found that the ‘economically weaker’ spouse was entitled to receive spouse maintenance, if:

         1. they did not have adequate income to maintain the same lifestyle they enjoyed during the marriage;[1]
             and

          2. there was an imbalance between the income and overall wealth of the economically weaker spouse and the               wealthier spouse.[2]

The Supreme Court appeal was initiated in 2014 by US born Lisa Lowenstein against Vittorio Grilli, a former Italian Minister of Economy and Finance following the breakdown of their marriage in 2013. Ms Lowenstein sought final orders that Mr Grilli pay her monthly spousal maintenance  of as much as €2m for the remainder of her life.

In the 10 May 2017 ruling the Supreme Court held that “marriages, and the lifestyles they permitted, should not be seen as “permanent arrangements”” nor can a marriage be “understood as a ‘set-up for life’”.

The Supreme Court judgment number 11504[3] shows a judicial departure from the traditional efforts of the Court to maintain and preserve an ex-spouse’s standard of living. In relation to spousal maintenance, the Court found that if a former spouse is capable of work and deemed self-autonomous or capable of being so, they will no longer be awarded an automatic right to claim spouse maintenance.