The A. examines the legal status of the family caregiver within the framework of private and family law, highlighting the persistent gap between social recognition and juridical invisibility. While welfare legislation increasingly acknowledges the central role of informal family care, civil law continues to struggle to conceptualize care as a legally relevant activity. The analysis explores the ambiguous boundaries between spontaneity, moral duty, and legal obligation in family-based assistance, with particular attention to intergenerational asymmetries. The paper critically assesses the limits of traditional legal instruments, such as maintenance obligations and marital duties of assistance, in addressing material and existential needs. It further investigates the caregiver’s marginal position in healthcare decision-making and data access. Finally, the contribution discusses private-law tools for compensating or remunerating care work, including trusts and succession planning, and argues for the need to develop a coherent legal framework that recognizes care as a relational, socially valuable, and legally significant activity.
Il caregiver nel prisma delle relazioni familiari
bugetti
2026
Abstract
The A. examines the legal status of the family caregiver within the framework of private and family law, highlighting the persistent gap between social recognition and juridical invisibility. While welfare legislation increasingly acknowledges the central role of informal family care, civil law continues to struggle to conceptualize care as a legally relevant activity. The analysis explores the ambiguous boundaries between spontaneity, moral duty, and legal obligation in family-based assistance, with particular attention to intergenerational asymmetries. The paper critically assesses the limits of traditional legal instruments, such as maintenance obligations and marital duties of assistance, in addressing material and existential needs. It further investigates the caregiver’s marginal position in healthcare decision-making and data access. Finally, the contribution discusses private-law tools for compensating or remunerating care work, including trusts and succession planning, and argues for the need to develop a coherent legal framework that recognizes care as a relational, socially valuable, and legally significant activity.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
