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Family Law in Europe Association
Being “Family
Lawyers" in Europe.
Today, 8
million European citizens reside in a member State that is not their
home Country, to study, work, re-unit with their families, or spend the
rest of their lives after retirement. This is the positive result of the
development of the free circulation of people, goods and services inside
the European Union.
This new reality has brought to an
increasing number of marriages between citizens of different
nationality, and to the rising of legal problems like the selection of
the jurisdiction and applicable law in case of separation or divorce
(every year, in Europe, there are about 170,000 divorces between spouses
of different nationality, 20% of the total number of divorces in the
European Union).
 It
is also occurring more frequently the need to execute a court order
against a spouse or parent who moved in other member State, because
he/she brought with him/her the child, thus subtracting him to the
parental authority of the other parent, or against the spouse or parent
who does not pay maintenance, or to proceed to the separation of the
joint assets of the spouses or common-law spouses that live in different
member States.
The provisions for the protection of
adults with incapacity issued by the judge of the Country in which they
reside, but of which they do not have nationality, are also increasing;
in these cases, it is not simple to find solutions to administer the
adult’s property or financial affairs, that are often located in more
member States.
Similar problems arise once a person
dies: in Europe, there are about 100,000 cases of trans-national
succession every year.
These are important numbers, that induced the European Union to add
among its main objectives, the development of a European judicial space,
to allow each European citizen to exercise his/her rights, regardless
the member State in which she/is lives.
 The
European Commission, aware of the need for new rules to harmonize the
family law, and in particular to harmonize the rules on conflicts of
law, will approve new Regulations in the near future, to modify the
rules of the Bruxelles II relative to jurisdiction and applicable law in
matrimonial matters (Regulation Proposal Rome III) and to harmonize the
rules on conflicts of law, with regards to matrimonial property regimes,
with the intention to extend the recognition of the legal autonomy of
the spouses and common-law spouses for the selection of the law
applicable to their matrimonial property regime or "partenariats
enregistrés".
The new Council Regulation (EC) no.
4/2009 has been recently approved by the European Parliament, relative
to jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of
decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance
obligations.
With regards to successions, the European Commission has presented a
Green paper which proposes solutions to harmonize the rules on conflicts
of law and to facilitate the administrative aspects of a succession,
foreseeing the institution of a “European certificate of inheritance”.
In creating a reinforced European
judicial space, it is important to assert and develop the role and
competences of the lawyer, when defending the rights of people and
managing and mediating family conflicts, preferably seeking
conciliation.
Therefore, dialogue,
collaboration, cooperation and initiatives of common specialized
training must be developed among European lawyers who operate in the
field of family law and human rights: with these purposes, Family Law in
Europe Association was created.
Executive Board of FAMILY LAW IN EUROPE
Association
Milena Pini, president, lawyer in Milan
Rosanna Marzocca, lawyer in Rome
Mirella Quattrone, lawyer in Como
Manuela Tirini, lawyer in Bologna
Paola Casalini, editor of website
www.familylawineurope.eu
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