"Dear Union,

first of all an obligatory premise: what is written is developed not on the basis of statistics, but of events that I have witnessed in twelve years of forensic career.

According to Caritas data, separated fathers who are not collocatari, or with the right to visit but who do not live permanently with their children, suffer, due to separation and divorce, a situation of absolute precariousness. 66%, about half a million, cannot afford the expenses for basic necessities, not even the small ones when in the company of their children. Why all this? The maintenance allowance for children is often above the real economic capacity of the man.

According to data from the Union of Separated Fathers, in 94% the main placement parent is the mother and, consequently, the father is required to pay maintenance. Furthermore, only in 30% of cases the father is allowed to keep the house, and the remaining 70%, in addition to his own maintenance, must provide for a new home (sometimes continuing to pay the family home loan).

It is incorrect to say that separated fathers (all) live in conditions of poverty due to separation and / or divorce. There are many who do not pay the aforementioned allowance, who are null, who due to separation and divorce face serious economic difficulties or who suddenly are no longer able to provide even for themselves. There are, therefore, two parallel realities. That of men who face serious hardships: it is undeniable that the parameters for the quantification of the maintenance allowance are to be reviewed and are, to date, the result of chance rather than protocol. And men who, separated / divorced, no longer have children.

They are distinct, parallel phenomena. Separate men who become the new poor and women who alone have to raise their children, often deprived not only of economic assistance but also of moral and psychological assistance.

It should be noted that the house is given, entrusted, to minors and those who live with them enjoy it.

It should be noted that fathers almost never ask to have the prevalent placement of their children. The statistic is therefore false: 94% of the assignments are in favor of the mothers because the fathers do not even try to ask for the prevailing placement, and the house is entrusted accordingly. Furthermore, there is no organic assessment of the quantification of the maintenance allowance but, to obtain a reduction, it would be advisable for fathers to spend more time with their children, and this is not the case.

We are therefore facing a jungle. Each Court follows its own parameters and, consequently, in the same situations, the contribution to the maintenance varies according to the variation of the Court. Particular as established by the Court of Monza: the measure of the contribution to the maintenance of minor children had to be related not so much to the quantification of the income deriving from the professional activity carried out by the non-cohabiting parent, but to an overall assessment of the minimum essential for life and growth of the children themselves.

The Court of Cassation, however, has established, and repeatedly reiterated, that the standard of living must be ensured to the minor to an extent similar to that already enjoyed before the marital crisis. Therefore, the amount also depends on the economic resources of the parents, reconstructing the respective financial and income situations, as well as work capacity and income potential.

Without bothering the Legislator, a shared protocol without a fixed percentage of contribution to maintenance would be enough, indicating how to identify the same. With the following parameters: income capacity of both spouses, avoiding the use of the contribution in favor of the predominant collocating parent, and the time that parents spend with their children. A direct form of contribution to maintenance, equating parental role and sharing of expenses to be integrated in favor of the spouse with greater economic difficulty ".

Sara Astorino, lawyer and Aduc consultant

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