THEThe principle is clear: when the economic conditions change, even the measure of the maintenance allowance for children can be revised. To establish it is The Court of Cassation, who accepted the appeal of a separated father in difficultyopening up to the possibility of a redetermination of the amount requested to him. In essence, the judges wanted to say that the maintenance allowance must be guaranteed, but in sustainable measure with respect to the actual income capacity of the parent. A sentence, like all those of the Supreme Court, destined to make jurisprudence.
Revised maintenance allowance: separated fathers hope
At the center of the story, there is a father who, in recent years, has seen his monthly salary descend to 1,400 euros. A figure from which he had to remove 600 euros per month for his daughter, in addition to 50% of the extraordinary expenses. An unbearable situation, aggravated by the economic difference between him and the former spousemuch more solid on the patrimonial level. For the Ermellini, few doubts: the second degree Court of Appeal did not correctly evaluate the actual balance between the conditions of the two parents. For this reason, the Cassation has asked for a new verification, more adherent to the current economic reality of man.
The principle of the Cassation: you cannot give what you don’t have
The reference of the sentence is article 337-ter of the civil code, which requires each parent to contribute to maintenance based on their income. But the knot often lies in its practical interpretation. And this ordinance clarified a fundamental concept: The check cannot be a sentence. It must be a commitment yes, but within the limits of concrete possibilities. The change in working conditions, in the specific case, was not considered a fault nor a “unilateral choice”, therefore It is right to prevent the check from ending up compromising the parent’s right to a dignified life.
The judges open up to the revision of the amount based on the changes in the income of both parents. A sentence that represents an important opportunity for the separate fathers who find themselves in economic difficulties (pexels)
Protection and sustainability: a difficult balance
With this sentence, The judges obviously do not question the maintenance of the childrenwhich remains an absolute priority. They underline, however, that it is also the survival of the parent who must pay him. The risk, otherwise, is to transform a measure born to protect the little ones into a mechanism that generates new suffering. The decision of the Cassation, in this sense, opens a passage: meanwhile, it affirms that to really evaluate, in the present, what each parent can do, It is necessary to look at the current economic situation and not to the crystallized one at the time of separation. Following, that the contribution to the maintenance of children must not make life impossible to the parent.
Pour a check, stay fathers even if separated
The ruling of the Cassation is not a go -ahead to pay less, nor a failure to family duties. It is a reference to reality: Being a father does not only mean paying a sum every month, but it means being presentbeing able to be with a child without carrying an unsustainable burden on his shoulders. Precisely for this reason, the case analyzed has been postponed to the Court of Appeal, asking for a new assessment: more careful, more concrete, parameterized to the real balance between income and needs.
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