This article is an update to the post published on our website back in 2017, shortly after the coming into force of Legge Cirinnà – Law no. 76/2016. With this law the possibililty for unmarried couples to form a cohabitation agreement was first introduced into the Italian legal system.
The rules apply to unmarried couples of the same sex or opposite sexes who are not married or in a civil union (“unione civile“), who may choose to draw up a formal agreement to provide certainty to their relationship status, property rights and inheritance rights.
Cohabitation can be legally recognised if both individuals are over 18 and live together in the same property. They must be united by a “stable, romantic relationship” and reciprocally provide each other with material and moral assistance. They must not be related to each other (even by way of adoption).
A cohabitation agreement (“contratto di convivenza”) has to be in written form and the signatures of the parties must be witnessed by a Notary or a practising lawyer (“Avvocato”). The document once signed and witnessed is then sent to the Comune of residence for registration (“trascrizione“) in the Ufficio di Stato Civile.
The property regime applicable to cohabitations is the “separation of assets” regime (separazione dei beni), but a couple can choose in their written agreement for the “community of assets” (comunione dei beni) regime to apply to their cohabitation (i.e. one cohabitee has the legal right to 50% of any property purchased by the other, following the start of their cohabitation). This is the opposite of the default matrimonial property regime in Italian law which provides that property acquired during the marriage is held in community of assets unless the sepration of assets regime is expressly chosen at the time of marriage or at the time of acquisition of property.
For cohabitees of different nationalities, Italian International Private Law provides that the law applicable to the cohabitation, and the cohabitation contract, will be that of the country where the cohabitation takes place.
Where one of the cohabiting parties is a non-EU national and resident outside Italy, the cohabitation agreement may be registered with the Comune in which the other party, who is an EU citizen, is resident. This is confirmed by recent case law (decisions of the first instance civil court “Tribunale Ordinario”) following a period in which the Comune was rejecting cohabitation agreements where a party did not already have an immigration permit.
https://www.questionegiustizia.it/data/doc/3563/ordinanza-sospensione-questura-di-napoli-1-1.pdf
The registration of a cohabitation agreement with the Comune, as a first step, then enables that party to regularise their stay in Italy, by applying for an immigration permit (“carta di soggiorno”) from the competent Questura, in accordance with Article 10 of Italian Law no. 30 of 6th February 2007 (ratification in Italy of the EU Directive on Freedom of Movement no. 38/2004).