The Corte di Cassazione, sect. I civ., with the recent sentence n. 4092/2018, has ruled on the effects that the death of the spouse has on the requests ancillary to the divorce decree, even if the same has become final.
With the aforesaid judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed that, pending a separation judgment or a divorce judgment, the death of one of the two spouses determines the termination of the conjugal relationship and the cessation of the same matter of the dispute both on the judgment concerning the status of the spouse, and on that related to the accessory questions.
Consequently, the action taken to recognize the right to the divorce allowance must be considered impractical against the heirs of the spouse of the deceased, as it is not possible for them to take over the trial position of the deceased in order to ascertain the non-existence of its obligation to contribute to maintenance. In fact, the request to obtain maintenance is very personal and, as such, can only be directed against the person to whom the personal status refers.