Annulments, breakdowns

There were 369 cases for marriage annulments still pending before the Family Section of the Civil Courts up to last Friday. There were also 12 appeals pending before the Appeals Court and 18 applications before the same court to register marriage annulments handed down by the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.

Answering parliamentary questions by Labour MP José Herrera, Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said the cases had been or were being heard by Judges Noel Cuschieri, Anna Felice and Joseph Azzopardi, together with Magistrates Paul Coppini and Anthony Ellul.

In the five years between 2006 and 2010, decided cases of marriage annulments had respectively totalled 218, 179, 182, 127 and 92 in Malta, and seven, eight, six, seven and 13 in Gozo.

Also up to February 18, Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri had handed down judgment in 91 cases in 2008, 85 in 2009, 55 in 2010 and one to date in 2011. Madame Justice Anna Felice, who had been assigned to the Family Court in December 2008, had decided four cases in 2009, 26 in 2010 and six to date in 2011.

The Family Section of the Civil Courts in Malta had annulled 184 marriages in 2006, 147 in 2007, 174 in 2008, 85 in 2009 and 70 in 2010. In the same period the Ecclesiastical Tribunal had respectively annulled 27, 30, 44, 48 and 34, all of which had been registered by the Court of Appeal.

Also in the same five years, the Magistrates’ Court in Gozo had respectively annulled five, five, four, seven and 12 cases. Dr Herrera also asked about the number of cases, letters and notes submitted to the Family Court in the same five years between 2006 and 2010.

Minister Mifsud Bonnici replied that for each respective year in Malta there had been 700, 898, 758, 799 and 854 letters for personal separation; 321, 93, 306, 290 and 261 notes for amicable separation; and 120, 178, 134, 133 and 113 contentious cases.

In Gozo there had respectively been eight, 13, 12, 16 and seven letters for personal separation; 16, nine, 13, 17 and 17 notes for amicable separation; and 32, 46, 33, 39 and 34 contentious cases. No statistics were kept on how many of these cases involved foreigners.