Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that children are not required to see their grandparents if they don’t want to.
The Supreme Court of Cassation’s ruling concerns an appeal by parents of two children against a lower court ruling that forced the children to spend time with their paternal grandparents.
The multi-year case was initiated by a paternal grandparents and uncle who went to the juvenile court in Milan complaining that they could not meet the children “due to obstacles set by the parents” with whom they were at odds. . in family conflict.
The grandparents won both in juvenile court and in the Milan Court of Appeal, which in 2019 ordered meetings between them and their children in the presence of a social worker, while warning parents of the potential psychological harm to children if they were deprived of their ability to see their relatives.
The parents argued that the meetings were not appreciated by the children due to ongoing tensions in the family, and therefore petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn this decision.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that while there was “no doubt” that the two children “would benefit from being associated with an articulated generational line,” the couple expressed disagreement with the relationship and could not be forced to see it. ascendants, especially in conflict situations.
Thus, the court ruled that the interests of the children must prevail over those of the grandparents and that “undesirable and undesirable relationships” could not be imposed, all the more so if the children were “capable of discrimination” and had reached the age of 12. .
Under a family law passed in Italy in 2006, a child has the right to maintain a meaningful relationship with their grandparents even if their parents are divorcing. Grandparents also have the right to ask the court to determine whether a parent’s decision to deny them access to their grandchildren is harmful to the child’s well-being and therefore illegal.
