Separation in Milan: timelines and Courts in Lombardy

Italian family law is national in scope, but its application is profoundly local. Two couples in identical circumstances who file for separation, one before the Court of Milan and one before a smaller provincial court, may receive their first hearing weeks or months apart, encounter different documentary requirements and meet different judicial expectations about the form and substance of their agreement. For anyone considering separation or divorce in Lombardy, an honest map of how the Milan courts operate is therefore as important as the legal framework itself.

The Court of Milan

At the Tribunale di Milano, family matters are concentrated in the Ninth Civil Section, the so-called Sezione Famiglia, which sits in the Palace of Justice in Corso di Porta Vittoria and is organised into several panels of judges each with specific competence over separations, divorces, parental responsibility, civil unions and protection orders. Since the entry into force of the unified family proceedings introduced by Legislative Decree 149/2022, the Section has been progressively adapting its internal organisation and protocols to the new model.

The Court’s jurisdiction does not extend to the whole Lombardy region, nor to the whole Metropolitan City: its district covers Milan and 73 other municipalities, listed on the Court’s website. Sesto San Giovanni, Cinisello Balsamo, Legnano, San Giuliano Milanese and Abbiategrasso, for example, are not part of it. Those living in Monza, Lodi, Pavia, Como, Varese, Bergamo or Brescia go to their own courts. For separation and divorce, where there are minor children the territorially competent court is that of the place where the child is habitually resident (Articles 473-bis.47 and 473-bis.11 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Where there are no minor children, it is the court of the place where the respondent spouse, that is the spouse against whom the petition is filed, resides or is domiciled (Article 473-bis.47 of the Code of Civil Procedure). If the respondent cannot be traced or lives abroad, it is the court of the place where the spouse who filed the petition resides or is domiciled (Article 473-bis.47 of the Code of Civil Procedure). With a joint petition, the spouses can choose the court of the place where either of them resides or is domiciled (Article 473-bis.51 of the Code of Civil Procedure). What counts, therefore, is where people live now, not where they lived together: a couple whose last common home was in Milan but who now live entirely in Turin will go to the Court of Turin.

International couples often need to assess at the outset whether the Italian courts have jurisdiction at all. EU Regulation 2019/1111 (Brussels II ter) and, for non-EU situations, Article 32 of Law 218/1995 govern the matter. Where Italian jurisdiction exists, the Milan Family Section is generally cooperative with foreign-language documents, accepts sworn translations promptly and is familiar with the use of remote attendance for parties resident abroad.

Average timelines of the procedures

The duration of a separation proceeding in Milan depends primarily on whether the parties are able to reach an agreement and, if they are not, on the complexity of the disputed issues. A consensual separation, in which both spouses file a joint petition setting out their agreement on every matter, including any children and property, is typically resolved in four to six months from filing to the issue of the homologation order. The actual hearing before the judge, where the parties confirm their consent and the agreement concerning minor children is examined, is usually scheduled within sixty to ninety days of filing.

A judicial separation, by contrast, is a different exercise. After the introductory phase, the case enters a fact-finding stage that may involve documentary evidence, expert reports on assets and income, social-services interventions and the hearing of children. The Court of Milan currently resolves contested separations within eighteen to thirty months at first instance, with significant variation between panels and depending on the cooperativeness of the parties. Where complex valuations of business interests or international assets are required, longer timelines are not unusual.

Divorce proceedings normally follow the same pattern, with consensual divorces decided in approximately the same window as consensual separations and judicial divorces extending over comparable, sometimes shorter, periods because many disputed points have already been resolved at the separation stage. Out-of-court routes, notably the assisted negotiation procedure (Article 6 of Decree-Law 132/2014, converted into Law 162/2014) and the agreement before the Civil Registrar (Article 12 of the same decree), can shorten the process considerably where neither spouse intends to contest the substance.

Established practice

Beyond the statutory rules, the Milan Family Section follows a body of local practice that practitioners working in the city know well and that often determines the practical course of a case. For children’s expenses beyond the maintenance allowance, the Guidelines signed in June 2025 by the Court of Appeal, the Court of Milan, the Milan Bar Association and the Observatory on Civil Justice apply. The petition is expected to set out the family’s economic situation clearly and in a structured way. Where a financial contribution is claimed or there are minor children, it must be accompanied by the tax returns of the last three years, the documents on real estate, registered movable assets and company shares, and the bank and financial statements of the last three years (Article 473-bis.12 of the Code of Civil Procedure); vague references to a partner’s lifestyle, without underlying figures, are routinely sent back for supplementation.

The Section has also developed a consistent approach to interim orders. In the first phase of contested proceedings, the judge typically issues provisional measures on custody, residence of children and maintenance contributions within a short timeframe, often at the first hearing, with the aim of stabilising the family situation while the merits are explored. These provisional orders, although technically subject to modification, in practice influence the final outcome and should be prepared for with the same care as the merits.

A specific feature of Milan practice is the routine use of social services and, in higher-conflict cases, of court-appointed psychological experts to assess the parental capacities and the relational dynamics within the family. Knowing local practice is half the work: the same rule is applied differently by different Courts, and clients often benefit more from a lawyer’s familiarity with the Section’s tempo and expectations than from any abstract argument on the law. Studio Legale Lo Torto has acted before the Milan Family Section for many years and coordinates its Milan work with cases handled in Venice for clients with assets, residence or children in more than one Italian city.