Property, succession section proposed for civil courts

A proposal to create a section within the civil courts dedicated to property disputes and succession has been made in one of several amendments to the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure.

Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said yesterday that about 1,400 of the 6,235 pending cases were related to property and succession. These cases also lasted the longest and were the most complicated, often resulting in family feuds and long-term vacant property.

He said the new section would have two or three judges and would work in the same way as the Family Court.

Under the new proposals, the Magistrates' Court will be able to deal with cases with a value of up to Lm10,000 - doubling the competence of its current jurisdiction.

Another amendment aims to reduce delays. Fifty-seven per cent of cases have been pending for three years or more. Although this figure was down from 70 per cent in the past four years, a lot more still needed to be done, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

He said many deferments were often unnecessary and happened because the legal profession was dragging its feet. Therefore, it is being proposed that cases should be appointed within two months; that a case cannot be postponed for more than two months; and either party can ask for the case to be transferred to another judge if judgment has been deferred for 18 months or more.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that in spite of efforts being made in the Appeals Court, there were still about 900 pending appeals. In fact, he said, 25 to 35 per cent of appeals were being deserted each year. Therefore, it is being proposed that the payment of the security deposit of the appeal should be paid within six months of receiving notice of the appeal.