S.and the approval of the new law on the attribution of surnames to childrenon which the majority aims to arrive quickly, will be confirmed, families will have the freedom to choose the surname and to attribute the paternal one, the maternal one or both.
The target it is giving equal dignity to women in the couple relationshipproviding that the surname of the child is attributed according to the will of the parents.
Double surname: because a law
The bill is in the initial phase of work in the Senate Justice Commission. This it will have to unify five different texts and others that have already been announced. All to try to bring the law home within this legislature.
A process started on February 15th last with the examination of the texts developed for removeas indicated by the Council, the current rule, for the part in which grants to manin the absence of different agreements, the priority in attributing the surname to the couple’s children.
A “supremacy” branded by the Consulta as the legacy of a patriarchal conception of the family that the similar bills aim to demolish.
What will change
With the new rules the choice of surname (maternal or paternal, or both) will be free: theorder will be established by the parents. In the event of a conflict between the two, the way to a possible compromise may be to follow the alphabetical order. What is certain is that it will no longer be automatic.
To prevent siblings born of the same parents from having a different surname, the rule is that the surname chosen for the first child is also attributed to the children born later. For children born out of wedlock, in the event of subsequent recognition by the second parent, the surname of the latter can be added to that of the first.
Double surname, how it works now
The current system for giving the paternal surname to children, established by article 262 of the Civil Code, has come to the attention of constitutional judges several times.
The latest ruling, in chronological order, is of 11 February 2021. With an order they had underlined how the current discipline is not only a source of “imbalance” and “disparity between parents”, but you also sacrifice the “right to identity of the child”denying him the possibility of being identified, from birth, even with his maternal surname.
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When the law comes
As for the timing to get the law approved, the first deadline is set for 4 March: on that date they will be identified the figures to listen to in the audition. Then the cycle of hearings will be resolved in a few sessions and we will move on to the discussion and drafting of the unified text.
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