LEGAL UPDATE BY Jessica Zama 15th January 2014:
New Regulations in Italy, (Legge 10 December 2012, n. 219) which came into force on 1 January 2014, effectively remove all legal distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate (i.e. born out of wedlock) children, as well as with adopted children. Any references which make these distinctions will be removed from the Italian Civil Code.
These changes will have notable consequences, particularly in succession law; all children will now have the same rights of inheritance to their parents’ estate, rights to financial support, as well as to Italian nationality/attribution of citizenship rights.
Another significant effect produced by the removal of these distinctions is that a child born outside of marriage or who has been adopted, will now automatically be considered to be related to his aunts, uncles and grandparents, therefore giving him a legal right to a relationship with relatives such as their grandparents, and vice versa.
The age when a child’s consent is necessary before legal acknowledgment of a parent is awarded in Court, has decreased from 16 to 14. A further important modification is that the minor now also has the right to be listened to in legal proceedings in which he is involved, thereby adopting an active role in proceedings.
A parent is now also able to formally acknowledge any child born out of incestuous relationships, subject to obtaining a Court order in this respect; this was previously not allowed at all (unless the parents, at the time of conception, were genuinely unaware that they were related).
