October 25, 2023
PAVIA, Italy, | A 75-year-old Italian mother from the city of Pavia has successfully won a court case to evict her two sons, aged 40 and 42, who had been residing in the family home for an extended period. Her decision to take legal action was prompted by her sons’ reluctance to leave the comforts of home despite having jobs and the ability to live independently.
The mother had repeatedly encouraged her sons to find their own living arrangements, considering their ages and employment status. She was also disappointed that they neither contributed to household expenses nor assisted with chores, as reported by the local newspaper La Provincia Pavese.
Frustrated by their refusal to cooperate, the mother pursued legal action and, to her relief, Pavia Judge Simona Caterbi sympathized with her predicament and issued an eviction order against her sons. In her ruling, Judge Caterbi noted that while parental responsibility for providing support was initially warranted, it was no longer justifiable for the adult sons, given their ages.
The two men have been given until December 18 to vacate the family home.
Italy has long had a high proportion of adults living with their parents, and almost 70% of Italians between the ages of 18 and 34 reside with their families, as of 2022. This trend is more common among men, with 72.6% living at home, while 66% of women in the same age group do so.
A 2019 study indicated that among young adults living at home, 36.5% were students, 38.2% were employed, and 23.7% were actively seeking employment. The prolonged stay of young adults in their family homes is often attributed to challenging economic conditions and the difficulty of securing stable employment.
This case is a rare instance of a parent taking legal action to evict adult children from the family home. Conversely, there have been instances in Italy where adult children have sued their parents for continued financial support. In 2020, Italy’s Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a 35-year-old musician who sought financial assistance from his parents, ruling that young adults do not have an automatic entitlement to parental financial support.
