Cecatiello Attorney Interview on FORBES

FORBES Journalist: [00:00:04] Friends of leading Forbes, today we offer you an in-depth study that can certainly be useful to the lives of all of us. You have surely heard of the increase in separations and divorces that unfortunately occurred during the pandemic and is a part of life that almost half of marriages are said to have to contend with. We have here a guest, a specialist, a familiarist, a lawyer who has national and international experience; I am going to introduce him immediately: he is the lawyer Armando Cecatiello whom I thank for being here with us at Forbes Leader.
So let's start from the career of this professional who has specialized in this matter. So I ask you something. What prompted you, what is the episode that led you to specialize in this area?

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:01:17] Well, I've always had a passion for family law and the protection of minors. And so already since the university that I attended; at the time there were no specialized courses in family law and at the university I had gone to steal some courses from the other faculties which later turned out to be very useful as regards my profession. So let's say that I had already decided when I was at university; I was told that it would not be as profitable as other specializations but I went on. Instead it was an activity, a successful choice, I must say.

FORBES Journalist: [00:01:54] The lawyer is the author of several books that have come out on the subject. A little while ago before starting the recording of this interview he told me that he was working on other texts on the subject. But before we talk about publishing activities, I would ask you if it is true as people have read that the number of separations and divorces increased during the pandemic. And what an impression it has on how Italy has changed in recent years.

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:02:28] As far as separations and divorces are concerned, we really have a very high demand just as professionals of almost emergency interventions. We had a very, very difficult time with the first lockdown, but with the first lockdown, people saw an end to it. Now, with the second and third lockdowns, people have truly lost all hope and family tensions have increased tremendously. All what could have been normal entertainment that each of us has has been removed, and this has led to an increase in tension in the house and the exacerbation of already difficult situations. Therefore, however, there has been a great complexity of situations that have led to an enormous increase in separations; separations that are born really bad in the sense that they are the result of a long tension that has not had the opportunity to decant or perhaps cross paths that are a little lighter, let's say through the help of other professionals of mental health professions. The problem is that the tension is currently very very high so we also have requests for very urgent interventions.

FORBES Journalist: [00:03:52] So in short, your business has certainly increased in this period and also requires not only legal skills because in any case it is about people who have also gone through psychological stress and I ask another question which is perhaps the most obvious one . When there is a separation, the first thought always goes to the children and then secondly to the protection of the assets. What tools do you suggest, however, to ensure that this divorce, this separation can be less traumatic for all parties involved?

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:04:36] So. I say this with my heart in my hand. The ideal is to find agreements. How are these agreements reached? It depends on the person to person. As for me, I personally make an assessment of what the personal situation of the couple is, if they come together, but very often, in most cases, only one of the two comes. I try to figure out what is best for them and from there I propose various alternatives. There is the possibility of collaborative practice, the possibility of mediation and the possibility of assisted negotiation. The appeal to the Court is precisely the last resort when it is not possible to find agreements of a different type or when the other spouse, it can happen very often, has already carried out and has already put in place perhaps activities to the detriment of the economic point of view of the children and the other. At this point, the appeal to the Court is inevitable. But normally alternative ways are found to protect the children. You said that children come first. Unfortunately, however, in our experience it happens that we specialized lawyers have to remind the parties about the children because in our system it is not so obvious while for example in collaborative practice the children are at the center, in normal negotiation the children are unfortunately always in the background. after the economic aspects.

FORBES Journalist: [00:06:08] This “collaborative practice”, you defined it like this, is one of the aspects, it can be said, that you have taken on in your foreign experiences and then imported into Italy; in short, it is an aspect that somewhat distinguishes his way of working compared to other studios that deal with the same subject

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:06:29] Yes with the collaborative practice that I initially learned in the United States, then I discovered I was also present in a group of collaborative lawyers in Italy as well. And from there we studied it and also, how to say, perfected it with respect to our Italian system. Now I also teach collaborative practice and I am a trainer. The purpose of this procedure is that each party has its own lawyer and, by connecting to what I said before the discourse on the psychological and multidisciplinary aspects, we have involved and involve other professionals, therefore a communication expert who serves to help the parties to rediscover the communication that is normally lost with separation, divorce and family crisis

FORBES Journalist: [00:07:20] The tension doesn't help ...

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:07:22] Absolutely not. And then we will have the child's expert if there is a need and also an accounting expert, an accountant, who also helps in the management and distribution of assets or in any case also to find solutions for those two people that allow him to close a chapter which is that of their marriage and to live peacefully the years that remain. Also because it is very important to see and make people understand that the crisis of marriage and the end of marriage can be the beginning of something positive, new.

FORBES Journalist: [00:07:58] So before you told me that abroad there is more of a possibility of doing a protective and preventive activity, as far as disputes are concerned; in Italy, on the other hand, from what I understand, you will certainly explain it to me better, there are fewer tools available in this sense and we have to work more on the collaborative aspect. When the separation occurs to try to smooth out the most difficult aspects.

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:08:34] Of course, all of us, as professionals specialized in family law, hope for the introduction in Italy of what are the “prenuptial agreements” of Anglo-Saxon derivation; with those, in our opinion, they would lead to a decrease in litigation; at this time it is not possible to apply them in Italy, but preventive solutions can be found that can help people protect their assets and possibly regulate later if a marriage crisis ever occurs; no one hopes that marriage will go into crisis but statistically the numbers of marriages that go into crisis are very very high so it is better to prevent and therefore find agreements especially when you have very important assets; at this point it is really a necessity to check the situation before getting married and to rely on a professional who is able to give the best advice.

FORBES Journalist: [00:09:38] Look, earlier I mentioned his publishing business, that is ... the latest book, I think it's the last he published, focuses on teenagers. How was the genesis of this publication?

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:09:56] The genesis is this. I am a dad and have a teenage son. But I am a father and it is as if I were the father of many other teenage children because the court of Milan often appoints me as special curator. So from this experience and from the collaboration with Dr. Veneroni, a psychologist with whom I collaborate, we thought of giving help both to parents and to all those who collaborate and above all they are led to take care of adolescents to give them a hand, suggestions on adolescence. Very often we all know that when one has a teenage child it is like having a misfortune, "oh my God I don't understand him anymore, he was a child before, he was so cute he became really unmanageable". Actually it is the same boy who has changed, but the problem is how we treat teenagers that is, we have all been teenagers and therefore we should remember. Unfortunately or fortunately we should remember how we were, how we were, and from there we can help. So it is a very manual ... in my opinion, done really well with respect to the help that can be given to our children and also suitable for educators to make teachers understand how to best manage children.

FORBES Journalist: [00:11:20] Is this book entitled?

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:11:22] “Teenagers. Educate and grow without fear. "

FORBES Journalist: [00:11:28] And it came out in December ...

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:11:29] Yes, it's on Amazon

FORBES Journalist: [00:11:31] He was telling me that he is working on another book, but it can't be revealed further or can you tell us something?

Cecatiello Lawyer: [00:11:38] It is a work that can be revealed because it concerns the protection of the family patrimony and therefore on the purely economic aspects, and above all preventive ones, with respect to marriage; therefore with respect to the possible marriage crisis, but also with respect to the management of the family's assets.

The Cecatiello Law Firm advises its clients for the best management of both consensual and judicial separation and divorce proceedings, asset protection, custody of minors, collaborative practice.

Cecatiello Law Firm, Milan. Marriage lawyer, divorce lawyer, specialized in family law, child rights, juvenile criminal. Contact us.