Forty divorces have been granted since legislation came into force at the beginning of October, with just over 200 applications still pending.

If 240 people are happier in just three months, I think that’s a big success

Few expected to be able to obtain a divorce so soon after a nationwide debate was sparked by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s Private Member’s Bill filed in the summer of 2010.

The law Dr Pullicino Orlando proposed was backed at a hotly-contested referendum last May and was quickly debated and sanctioned by Parliament.

Deborah Schembri, who headed the pro-divorce movement, welcomed the statistics of the past three months.

“We all knew divorce was not something the majority would need. It’s something a minority need, and some need it more urgently than others,” she said.

“If 240 people are happier in just three months, I think that’s a big success.”

Dr Schembri, herself a family lawyer and now a candidate with the Labour Party, also pointed out that contrary to the impression given by the anti-divorce movement “nothing major changed”.

“The only thing that changed is the lives of the people who need it. And for them, this is a very important life change.”

Malta’s decision left the Philippines as the only country in the world with no divorce legislation.

Before divorce, couples in Malta could get separated but were only allowed to remarry if their union was declared null through annulment proceedings.

Now, marriages that break down can officially be declared over if the couple has lived apart for four years as stipulated in the law, which was modelled on Ireland’s legislation.

If the couple has a legal separation, either spouse can, after four years, apply for the separation to be converted into a divorce.

Figures obtained from the Justice Ministry show that so far, 217 people have filed such applications. Forty-six couples filed joint applications while 171 people filed individually.

If two spouses have lived apart for four years but were never legally separated, they can apply for divorce proceedings, handling issues which would normally be decided during legal separation (such as custody, division of assets and fault) but parties are free to remarry. Seven couples have filed such applications.

Meanwhile, 18 couples have applied to convert their ongoing legal separation proceedings into a divorce application.

In all, 242 applications were filed by the end of the year.

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