Italian Supreme Court says parents do not need to be financially responsible for adult children

The Italian Supreme Court has finally passed a new ruling on Friday where parents are no longer financially obligated to support their adult children. This comes after an earlier judgement in July where a part-time music teacher argued with the court for the past five years demanding his parents' support because he could not find any work that appealed to him.

In his initial case filed with the local court in Tuscany, the 35-year-old teacher strongly pushed on the fact that it was his parents' responsibility to support him because his income of £18,000 was not enough to live-on. The local court agreed and stipulated the amount of £360 monthly stipend to be paid by his parents adding that he had every right to a job that was in line with his education and ambitions.

However, in conclusion of this case, Supreme Court Judge Maria Cristina Giancola reversed the previous decision ruling that Italian parents are not responsible to financially support and uphold their children's situation for life. She added that young adults should work towards financial independence and "reduce adolescent ambitions" because parental support is not open-ended.

Italy's family law states that a child with physical or mental impairment has specific protection in the Italian law system. The parents' financial support cannot go on an indefinite duration if the adult child is physically and mentally able to actively search for a job and secure an independent livelihood.

According to CNN, Italian National Institute of Statistics shows that almost 65 % of Italians between the ages of 18 and 34 are still living with at least one parent. From this lot, about 36% are students, 38.2% are employed, while 23.7% are in the process of searching for a job. The country also has a 30% unemployment rate in individuals between the age of 15 and 24 years old.

Although many citizens welcome the Supreme Court's landmark decision, many feel the country's labour market is not set up to accommodate younger Italians. European statistics reveal that Croatia also has similar high rates of adult children living with parents, while Scandinavia is below 10%.

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti called this generation issue of young Italians dependent on their parents as "bamboccioni," which means "big babies." Gian Ettore Gassani, head of the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers lauded the Supreme Court's decision saying that Italy may not be the only country in Europe experiencing such obligatory support for adult children, but they seem to be the worst of all.