MPs discuss step-parents’ obligations

Step-parents would also have maintenance obligations and other duties towards their stepchildren in particular circumstances, while the rights of the natural father and mother will be respected, according to the Bill introducing divorce.

This and other outstanding issues were discussed yesterday by the Parliamentary Committee for the Consideration of Bills at an informal meeting at the Attorney General’s office before being presented at committee stage by Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech and Labour MP Owen Bonnici today.

The law would provide for instances when a person acted in loco parentis but the step-parents’ obligations would be set by law if the natural parent had either died, was absent from Malta, or was unknown, Dr Zammit Dimech said. In layman’s terms, “if a man marries a divorcee, who has children, and their father is dead, absent from the country, or unknown, the husband cannot say they are not his and, therefore, not part of the new family that is being formed”.

The step-parents’ legal obligations are a reflection of the importance of the children’s integration into the new family, Dr Zammit Dimech said.

“Of course, we do not want to go to the extreme that the natural father becomes a non-father just because his former wife has remarried. He is still the father and that can never be changed, even if his obligations cannot be realistically fulfilled,” he said.

A stepfather’s legal duties, as defined in the divorce legislation, would always be without prejudice to the rights of the natural parent because an unknown father could become known and an absent father could return, he explained.

Other issues discussed yesterday included the definition of rules of maintenance and how they apply to spouses, as well as to parents and children.

“We did not want to distinguish between the maintenance duties when a couple separates, or divorces, and if the marriage is still ongoing,” Dr Zammit Dimech said.

The discussion also tackled children’s rights – not just of separated and divorced couples – to “reinforce” their protection, Dr Bonnici said, adding that the law would strengthen the right to receive maintenance.

The meeting discussed how maintenance should be calculated by the courts, and the Divorce Bill would address abuse in the calculation of social benefits, Dr Bonnici said, referring to a practice that has taken root, whereby the parties to a separation case struck an agreement in order to be able to receive social benefits they were not entitled to.

He said the law would also enunciate the main principles related to the pensions of divorced spouses and further amendments would be made to various laws.

The setting up of a technical governmental committee was proposed. Its mission would be to analyse every other law that could be influenced by the Bill to render it “divorce compliant”, given that it was agreed it would have an impact on other laws, particularly those dealing with social security and pensions.

The committee, chaired by the Justice Minister, would have to prepare a report on the impact of divorce legislation on other laws by the end of February. The minister would have until the end of June to make whatever amendments are required in other laws, which could then be brought into force by means of a legal notice.

Three clauses were discussed at yesterday’s meeting over about four hours, with about the same number of clauses still to be addressed, Dr Bonnici said, adding that, while progress was registered, the committee was not rushing through the Bill. “They are so important that we spent more than an hour on each clause, inspecting every word,” he said.

The meeting, which involved the participation of Attorney General Peter Grech, was “constructive and not political”, focusing on the purely technical, with both parties acting bona fide, Dr Bonnici said, adding that “we forgot where we come from and tried to draft the best law possible”.

The remaining clauses will continue to be discussed before they are presented to Parliament next Monday, when a final vote will be taken.