Is it possible to give the mother's surname to the children?

The Constitutional Court, with a recent provision, has dealt with verifying the constitutional legitimacy of the rules that in the Italian legal system regulate the attribution of last name ai children.

Specifically, it examined the law that does not allow parents to jointly agree on the mother's surname alone , and the law that, in the absence of an agreement, imposes only the father's surname, rather than that of both parents.

The Constitutional Court has thus declared the rules that prohibit parents from choosing to give their child only the mother's surname to be illegitimate, because they were deemed discriminatory and damaging to the identity of the child , who automatically receives the father's surname.

The Constitutional Court has conformed to the principle of equality and to the sharing of both parents who, by mutual agreement, must approve the choice of the child's surname, which must be considered the fundamental expression of the individual's personal identity.

The Constitutional Court's ruling changes the rules: a child takes the surname of both parents if jointly agreed upon; otherwise, parents can decide whether to give their child the surname of only one of them.

Lawyer Armando Cecatiello Milan familiarist in Milan and Lugano