In the background is a court battle between the members of the feuding family, which has been going on for years and received a lot of publicity.
In Italy, the country’s highest court has issued a verdict in a highly publicized case in which it had to take a stand on the relationship between children and their grandparents.
According to The Guardian newspaper (you will be transferred to another service) the starting shot of a years-long legal battle was seen in Milan, where the local district court ordered the family’s children to spend time with their grandparents despite the opposition of the children’s parents.
The children’s parents, who had argued with the grandparents, first appealed the verdict to the Milan Court of Appeal.
However, it upheld the sentence in 2019 and ordered the children of the Milanese family to spend time with their grandparents in the presence of a social worker.
The court warned that children may be traumatized by not being able to see their relatives.
The parents appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in Rome, claiming that the scheduled visits with the grandparents were traumatic for the family’s children due to family feuds.
The Supreme Court overturned the verdict and that children are not obliged to see their grandparents in Italy, if the children do not want this.
According to The Guardian, Italy passed a family law in 2006 that gives children the right to maintain a relationship with their grandparents when the children’s parents divorce.
According to Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper (you will switch to another service)however, the right is not absolute, but with today’s decision, in the event of a dispute, grandparents must first show that the disputes have been resolved before they can meet their grandchildren.