Children have the right to shun grandparents, Italy court rules

ITALIAN children should not have to spend time with their grandparents if they don’t want to, Italy’s highest court has ruled.

In Italy, the bonds between children and their “nonni” are considered sacred, with grandparents often fulfilling a role as part-time carers, picking children up from school and looking after them until their parents return from work.

But the Supreme Court in Rome ruled that children, especially if they are over the age of 12 and “capable of discernment”, should not be compelled to hang out with grandma and grandpa.

The decision stemmed from a case in which a couple had insisted it was their right to see their two grandchildren, despite a fractious relationship with the parents, who had placed “obstacles” in the way of their attempts to see their grandchildren, they complained.

Their argument was accepted by a court in Milan and confirmed on appeal in 2019 by a higher court, which said the children were at risk of suffering “psychological damage” because they had been deprived of a relationship with their “nonna” and “nonno” as a result of a “rancorous climate”.

But the parents objected, saying that relations had totally broken down, and lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court in Rome, their last resort.

The difficult relationship with the grandparents, was “irresolvable”, they said in their submission to the court.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that the desire of grandparents to see grandchildren does not prevail over the interest of the children if family relations are “disharmonious”.

An “unwelcome and unwanted relationship” cannot be imposed on children, especially if they have reached the age of 12, the judges said.