LEGAL UPDATE BY JESSICA ZAMA:
While it is normal practice in the UK for a woman to take on her husband’s surname upon marriage, in Italy a woman will always remain known by her maiden name.
We are often asked to assist British citizens, who have changed their surnames following marriage, in dealing with Italian authorities such as Banks, who require proof that they are the same person as when they bore their maiden name, and in most cases we are able to resolve the question by preparing a statutory declaration.
We recently assisted a UK individual who had taken on the surname of her husband, an Italian citizen, subsequently changing all identity documents and obtaining an Italian fiscal code in her married name. When she tried to register at the “Anagrafe” (the Civil Registry) in Rome, she was told that she would not be recognised with her married name and could not therefore be registered as resident in Italy; as all her documents had now been changed, she could not register in her maiden name either, and was therefore in a legal limbo. We convinced the Comune that denying our client the right to be registered would be against European legislation and fundamental Human Rights; she was successfully registered as resident in Rome in her married name.
This is a problem commonly faced by many English citizens, who have married an Italian and who reside in Italy; many “give up” after an arduous battle with the civil registry and mistakenly have identity documents in both their married and maiden names.
Given that it is not usual for women to take on their husband’s surnames in Italy, they will therefore often not share the surname of their children. A recent European Court of Human Rights ruling (Cusan and Fazzo v. Italy (application no. 77/07), found that Italy, by denying a couple the right to give their child the mother’s surname had violated Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Italian government has accordingly proposed a change in the law, allowing parents to give their child their mother’s surname or both parents’ surnames, if they are both in agreement and if they declare this at birth; the child will automatically assume his/her father’s surname if there is no specific declaration made at birth.
