The court allowed the children not to see their grandparents

“Unwanted relationships with elderly ancestors cannot be forced”

The Supreme Court in Italy ruled in an unusual decision in favor of children who do not want to see their grandparents. Unwanted relationships cannot be forced, the judges ruled.

Italy’s highest court has ruled that children are not required to see their grandparents if they don’t want to.

The Supreme Court of Cassation’s ruling concerns the parents of two’s appeal against a lower court decision that forced the younger generation to spend time with their paternal grandparents.

The multi-year case was initiated by a paternal grandparents and uncle who filed a lawsuit in the juvenile court in Milan, complaining that they were unable to meet the children “due to the obstacles set by the parents” with whom they were drawn into the family conflict.

The grandparents won both in juvenile court and in the Milan Court of Appeal, which in 2019 ordered meetings between them and their children in the presence of a social worker, warning parents of the potential psychological harm to children due to depriving them of the opportunity to see with their relatives.

The parents argued that these meetings were not appreciated by the children due to the ongoing tension in the family, and therefore appealed to the supreme court to overturn this decision.

In its ruling, the supreme court said that while there was “no doubt” that the two children “would benefit from being associated with a clearly articulated generational line,” the couple expressed disagreement with the relationship and could not be forced to see their “rising ancestors,” especially in a situation of conflict.

Thus, the court ruled that the interests of the children should take precedence over those of the grandparents and that “undesirable relationships” could not be imposed, all the more so if the children were “capable of discrimination” and had reached the age of 12.

Under a family law introduced in Italy in 2006, a child has the right to maintain a meaningful relationship with their grandparents even if their parents have separated. Grandparents also have the right to ask the court to determine whether a parent’s decision to deny them access to their grandchildren is harmful to the well-being of the child and therefore illegal.