posted on April 7, 2002 01:35:25 PM new Court Ruling Makes Parents Quake
April 5, 2002 10:37 am EST
ROME (Reuters) - In a ruling that has sent a shiver down many parents' spines, Italy's highest appeals court has decreed that fathers must carry on supporting adult children until they find a job to their liking.
Psychologists warned that the decision could discourage people from having children in a country whose birthrate is already one of the lowest in the world, while commentators said it could boost Italy's already high unemployment rate.
The case revolves around a wealthy family in the southern city of Naples, where the father is still paying some $680 a month in maintenance to a son who is in his 30s and has a university law degree.
The son also has a trust fund worth some $220,000, lives in one of the smartest parts of the city, and has turned down several job offers.
But the court ruled that the father, Giuseppe Andreoli, who is a former parliamentarian and a respected Neapolitan medic, should carry on supporting his estranged son. "You cannot blame a young person, particularly from a well-off family, who refuses a job that does not fit his aspirations. The parents have to pay for their upkeep," said the court in a verdict handed down earlier this week.
Andreoli said on Friday he was shocked by the decision.
"I feel disgust for a country that I love. It wasn't always like this," he told Reuters.
posted on April 7, 2002 02:57:37 PM new
They have got to be joking. I doubt this will be very popular. I foresee a few missing people and cement shoes....
Hi Pat!
"Sometimes when we touch, the honesty's too much....."
