Brevi note in tema di prescrizione dell'azione di regresso per il mantenimento del figlio a margine di una recente sentenza del Tribunale di Roma

The principle that the parents are jointly liable for their children’s support can be considered well established in legal writings and case law; with the resulting right for the parent who provides entirely for the child support to raise a claim to recover the quota that the other failed to pay. More discussed, however, is the dies a quo of the limitation period for the exercise of this right. The Supreme Court considers that the parents’ obligation to support children arises at their birth, but that proceedings against the parent that fails to pay his quota of the support can only be instituted after the final judgment declaring the natural paternity. The limitation period should start therefore only from that moment. Some scholars, and even a judgment of the Court of Rome of 2014, consider, instead, that the right to bring an action is not subject to a final judgment on the natural paternity and that the term of the limitation period begins to run from every single expenditure effected. With this last pronunciation, the Court of Rome departs from its previous decision of 2014, joining the position of the Supreme Court.