Two MPs from both sides of the House, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Evarist Bartolo, yesterday made history when they submitted a joint parliamentary initiative to introduce divorce in Malta.
They presented a list of amendments to the Civil Code which will supersede the Divorce Bill modelled on Irish law and presented by Dr Pullicino Orlando, a Nationalist MP, in summer.
“I’m only an expert on teeth,” Dr Pullicino Orlando joked during a press conference, explaining the need for a second version of his draft law, which was rewritten by a Maltese expert in family law.
“All the important parts people liked have remained unchanged,” the chairman of the pro-divorce movement, Deborah Schembri, a lawyer, said. The changes, she added, were tailored to fit neatly into Maltese law, making the parliamentary process a smoother one.
According to the proposed amendments, divorce and separation would co-exist and both will be practically the same thing except that those who are divorced may remarry.
Divorce will only be granted to couples who have lived apart for four of the previous five years and for whom there is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.
However, separated couples would not have to restart the process and can have their agreement or judgment recognised. Those undergoing separation procedures pending for over four years would be able to ask the court to turn them into divorce procedures to save time.
Those finding it difficult to finalise their separation cases due to lack of agreement on property matters and community assets, would still be able to apply for divorce and remarry without disrupting the separation suit.
Finally, those who would not have gone through separation proceedings would not need to do so to obtain a divorce but can combine the two. Couples would, therefore, have the right to choose whether to obtain a divorce or a separation and, just like with separation, divorce proceedings could be initiated by one of the spouses.
The proposed amendments also include changes to separation laws.
“When going through the Irish law we found elements that should be included in our law on separation,” Dr Schembri said.
One suggestion is for maintenance to continue to be granted to children who are students under 23 and not stop when they are 18.
Another is to have more specific grounds on how maintenance is granted rather than being decided only on how much the dependants need and how much can be afforded.
Maintenance, under the proposed divorce law, would be granted to any dependent members of the family but, if one spouse remarries, s/he loses the right to be maintained. The children do not lose their right if their parents remarry.
Dr Pullicino Orlando stressed the consequences of divorce were the same as those of separation. “The only difference is that people will be able to remarry and, therefore, society will benefit from more stability,” he said.
Although, he said, other Nationalist MPs supported his initiative, he did not quantify them.
Mr Bartolo said he had express permission from party leader Joseph Muscat to submit the joint motion on the divorce Bill.