Summary
As regards lis pendens and in order to avoid that the claimant will “reserve” the jurisdiction of the forum most convenient to him, pursuant to Articles 16 and 19 of Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the claimant has a specific duty to take all necessary steps following the lodging of the claim, in particular in order to ensure service of the claim on the respondent. Italian courts have jurisdiction over a claim for legal separation which also addresses the issue of the custody over a minor daughter, lodged by an Italian wife residing in Italy subsequent to the lodging by her Romanian husband of an action for “divorce with minors” in Romania, when the husband has omitted to timely take the necessary steps to proceed with the proceedings previously filed under Article 16(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003. Namely, the aim to “reserve” the most convenient forum, pursued by the husband and sanctioned by this provision, may be inferred both from the husband’s patent delay in serving his wife with the claim lodged with the Romanian court (regardless of the fact that the heads of jurisdiction clearly pointed to Italian courts as the courts having jurisdiction) and from the husband’s refusal to being personally served with the claim subsequently lodged by his wife in Italy. Pursuant to Articles 8 and 12 of Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, Italian courts have jurisdiction over the claim for custody of a minor daughter lodged at the same time with the action for legal separation of the parents when, in the three years prior to the claim, the daughter was habitually resident in Italy. In fact, consistently with the best interests of the minor and lacking any clear acceptance of a different forum (in the case at issue, the Romanian forum) by both spouses, the strongest links with the life, emotional relations and daily routine of the minor are to be found in Italy.