The spouse claiming maintenance in separation proceedings has free access to the tax register to view the income and assets of the other spouse. This has been established by the Consiglio di Stato (Council of State - here acting as an appellate body for administrative justice), which has granted unrestricted access to the records and all documents in the possession of the tax office for the claimant spouse to calculate the income of the spouse liable to pay (income tax return) and to determine the assets (tenancy agreements) and financial holdings (records and data of financial actors, banks, including the archive of financial reports).

The right to information can be exercised by means of a simple request for an extract of copies within the framework of the generally granted online access to the public administration and, above all - this is the real fundamental novelty - outside the form provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure for the production of documents. It is therefore no longer necessary, notes the Consiglio di Stato, to obtain the authorisation of the judge in family proceedings pursuant to Art. 492 bis and 155 sexies Italian Code of Civil Procedure. (Consiglio di Stato, Plenary Session, of 25.09.2020, Judgments Nos. 19/20,20/20,21/20).