Ministero della Giustizia

Practical information - How to recover maintenance from a person living abroad

Bureau II of the Head of the Department
for Youth and the Community
Via Damiano Chiesa n. 24
00136 Roma
Italia
Tel.: (+39) 06 68188.326/331/535
Fax:  (+39) 06 68808085
e-mail: autoritacentrali.dgmc@giustizia.it
certified email: autoritacentrali.dgmc@giustiziacert.it (to use only within Italy)
Please take note that we receive by appointment only.

This fact sheet has been designed for those who wish to assert their rights to receive maintenance from a person living in another State.
International cooperation protects the rights of children and adults to receive financial support from another member of their family.
More specifically, according to Regulation (EC). No. 4/2009 and to the Hague Convention of 2007 , States must cooperate with each other, through their respective Central Authorities, and assist applicants who need to apply to the authorities in another State to have their rights asserted.

The Central Authority in Italy is the Department for Juvenile Justice and the Community with its specific Bureau of Conventional Central Authorities.

The Member States where international cooperation is implemented
You can apply for assistance to the Italian Central Authority when the debtor owing maintenance is living in one of the following Member States:
European Union Member States subject to Regulation (EC) 04/2009:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Hungary,the United Kingdom
(Please note that Denmark is excluded).
Member States parties to the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007:
Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Norway, Ukraine.
An updated list of  the current state of ratifications and adhesions is available in the appropriate page of the website of the HCCH

Who can apply to Italian Central Authority?
Anyone who has its habitual residence in Italy.

What applications can be filed with the Italian Central Authority?
One can apply to the Italian Central Authority:

1. when a maintenance decision (or equivalent deed) has already been made by an Italian or a foreign judicial authority, and you wish to:
   • ask the competent foreign authority to enforce such decision (or equivalent deed) when the debtor living abroad fails to fulfil its obligation;
   • ask the competent foreign authority to amend its decision (or equivalent deed).
2. when a maintenance decision (or equivalent deed) is not available and you wish that the foreign judicial authority make a decision enjoining the debtor who lives in such State to pay maintenance.

How to apply the Italian Central Authority for assistance
Just fill in the form you can find in the “Forms” Section and email it to acitalia0409.dgm@giustizia.it.
This form must include all the information requested to describe your actual situation, i.e. personal details of the subjects involved, the State in which the person due to pay maintenance lives, the references of the decision to enforce.
The Italian Central Authority will reply to your mail, will provide you with more specific information on cooperation rules that can be applied in your own case and will send you a list of the documents you have to submit to officially apply for cooperation abroad.

Procedural Costs
The services provided by the Italian Central Authority are free of charge.
With regard to the costs entailed in legal proceedings to be taken abroad:

• generally speaking, when maintenance is due from a parent for children under the age of 21, legal proceedings are completely free of charge;
• in all other cases, the legal costs for a lawyer (if requested by domestic law of the foreign State involved) may be covered by a Legal Aid Scheme, according to the regulations in force in the State where proceedings will take place: each State applies its own means-test criteria to grant Legal Aid. Circumstances must therefore be assessed case by case.

►FIRST CONTACT form (pdf, 154 kb)

May I file a maintenance application for an adult, too?
Generally speaking, you are entitled to do so; however, when the debtor lives outside the European Union – and therefore the Hague Convention of 2007 applies – there are some exceptions.
In such cases we recommend you to contact the Italian Central Authority and check with them whether the rules on international cooperation do apply to your specific case or not.

Do I need a lawyer to apply to the Italian Central Authority?
No, you do not need to retain a lawyer at this stage.

What should I do if I ignore the address of the debtor abroad?
If you don’t know the exact address of the debtor living abroad, the Italian Central Authority may ask the Central Authority of the foreign State to locate it.

May I apply to the Italian Central Authority when the maintenance decision was made by a foreign juridical authority?
Generally speaking, you are entitled to do so as long as the creditor is residing in Italy.