The Chamber has given its final go-ahead to the bill converting the reform decree on the backlog of civil proceedings, approved with 317 yes and 182 no. The bill envisages that reforming the discipline of the civil process contains many new features, especially on the divorce front: from today, in fact, it will be possible to divorce without ever setting foot in a court, unless there are ongoing disputes between husband and wife, three years after their separation.
Among the other novelties of the decree converted into law there will also be the reduction of the holiday period of magistrates from 45 to 30 days and the possibility of resorting to arbitration in pending civil cases. Below is a summary of the main innovations.
The decree also provides for conventions of assisted negotiation by lawyers in matters of personal separation, cessation of civil effects or dissolution of marriage (in cases of personal separation), modification of the conditions of separation or divorce. The procedure is possible both in the absence and in the presence of minor children, adult children with serious disabilities and adult children who are not self-sufficient: ne. The agreement reached as a result of negotiation assisted by lawyers is equivalent to the judicial measures that define the proceedings of personal separation, cessation of civil effects or dissolution of marriage, modification of the conditions of separation or divorce.
To obtain a divorce, the spouses will be able to appear before the court to the registrar of the Municipality to conclude an agreement for separation or dissolution of marriage or cessation of civil effects or, finally, modification of the conditions of separation or divorce, without the obligatory assistance of lawyers. This modality is available to spouses only in the event that there are no minor children or those with serious disabilities or who are not economically self-sufficient and on condition that the agreement does not contain deeds which provide for the transfer of property rights. On the matter, a double passage before the mayor as a registrar is foreseen after 30 days.
In pending civil cases, both in first instance and on appeal, the parties may also jointly request a arbitration proceeding. The causes that allow the transfer to the arbitration office must not concern unavailable rights, nor concern matters of labour, social security and social assistance, except in the hypothesis in which the arbitration option is provided for by collective agreements. As for the arbitrators, a limitation of their fees is envisaged to be established by ministerial decree.
To discourage the abuse of the process, it is foreseen that the compensation can be ordered by the judge only in cases of mutual losing or of absolute novelty of the question dealt with or change of the jurisprudence with respect to the diriment questions. In a nutshell, therefore, the loser will reimburse the court costs.
The less complex causes and for the decision of which a simple preliminary investigation is suitable will pass by the office, subject to cross-examination also through written treatment, by the ordinary rite of cognition to the summary rite, thus ensuring full intercommunication between the two treatment models.
In coordination with the community discipline on related payment delays a specific increase in the default interest rate is envisaged for commercial transactions from the moment of the filing of the legal claim.
Furthermore, the decree contains the reform of the discipline of foreclosure of land vehicles, providing for an attachment method borrowed from the discipline contained in the navigation code relating to the apprehension of ships and aircraft, so as to overcome the critical issues of the execution of such assets.
With the aim of allowing the judge to exercise effective control over the state of the bankruptcy proceedings, the trustee, the liquidator or the judicial commissioner are required to process and file the final summary report, to be drawn up in compliance with the already provided for by the bankruptcy law. The intervention will avoid the numerous convictions for violation of the reasonable length of the trial.
New terms were then introduced working suspension of proceedings: the working period in the courts will be from 1 to 31 August (no longer until 15 September). Also revised the discipline of the duration of the annual leave for all judges professional and state attorneys and attorneys: 30 days.
