Malta Family Court 2026: Mediation, Custody, Maintenance

Since 1 October 2026, family cases in Malta are no longer heard by a section of the Civil Court. They go to a court of their own: the Family Court. Separation, divorce, maintenance, custody, access and the cross-border child and maintenance cases that matter most to international families now sit with one specialised court, under a new set of procedural rules.

For the many foreign families who have made Malta home, this is not an abstract reform. If a marriage or a relationship breaks down here, or if an existing arrangement needs changing, the route now runs through the new court and its mediation rules. What follows sets out what the texts published in the Government Gazette actually say.

Four legal notices and one Act

The reform rests on one Act and four legal notices.

Act No. VII of 2026, the Various Laws relating to the Establishment of the Family Court (Amendment) Act, 2026, assented to on 27 March 2026. It amends the Criminal Code, the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure and the Civil Code.
Legal Notice 217 of 2026, which brought the Act into force on 1 October 2026, except article 8.
Legal Notice 218 of 2026, the Family Court (Transfer of Causes) Order, which fixed 1 October 2026 as the date on which all causes assigned to the Civil Court (Family Section) are assigned to the Family Court.
Legal Notice 216 of 2026, the Family Court Proceedings Regulations, 2026, with Legal Notice 219 of 2026 bringing most of its regulations into force on the same day.

All four notices were published on 11 August 2026, in Government Gazette No. 21,701. Pending cases did not have to be refiled: the transfer order moves them across. The old Civil Court (Family Section) regulations (S.L. 12.20) are repealed by regulation 54, with a saving that keeps existing appointments of mediators, Children's Advocates and support persons in force until they end.

What the Family Court hears

The new article 32B of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure provides that one judge presides over the Family Court, and assigns to it civil causes related to:

Titles I, II and IV of Book First of the Civil Code: the rights and duties arising from marriage (which include personal separation and divorce), filiation, and parental authority;
the Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Ordinance;
the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act;
the Marriage Act; and
the Child Abduction and Custody Act.

The last three items deserve attention from anyone whose family life crosses borders. Enforcing a maintenance order from abroad, or dealing with a child taken to or kept in another country, is now Family Court business. The Act also lets the Minister for justice assign further family causes to the court, and give it jurisdiction over criminal contraventions linked to a civil matter it is hearing.

Article 8 of the Act, the one provision left out of the commencement notice, would let the Minister establish by regulations a Support Office within the Courts Services Agency. It is not yet in force.

Gozo keeps its own family section

For residents of Gozo, article 32B(4) is the important line. In causes within the jurisdiction of the Gozo courts, the function of the Family Court continues to be fulfilled by the Court of Magistrates (Gozo) (Superior Jurisdiction) (Family Section), unless the Minister provides otherwise by regulations. The proceedings regulations follow the same approach: their definition of "Family Court" expressly includes that Gozo section. So a Gozitan family stays with the Gozo court, but under the same new procedure.

Mediation comes first, and it is now longer

The heart of the regulations is mediation before litigation. Under regulation 17, a spouse who wants to proceed with personal separation files a letter with the Family Court registry asking for authorisation; for divorce, the request is made by application. Either way, the court does not hear the case until mediation has run its course.

Regulation 19(1) sets the frame: the mediator must schedule not less than six sessions within a maximum of eight months, which can be extended by up to four months, by agreement or by court order for a valid reason. The mediator can be chosen by the parties from the first part of the official list or appointed by the court from the second part on a roster basis (regulation 3). A mediation coordinator within the Court Services Agency oversees assignments and checks that mediation terms are followed.

The mediator's first task is to try to reconcile the parties (regulation 23). If that fails, the aim becomes an amicable agreement. A party who is not assisted by a lawyer must be told about the right to legal advice and, if they choose to go without, must file a note confirming it. Sessions with the mediator on a draft separation contract are not held online unless the mediator and the parties agree (regulation 41).

What is said in mediation stays there. Under regulation 26, no evidence may be produced in any court about what was said before the mediator, about proposals or reactions to them, and notes exchanged remain without prejudice. The exception is evidence of assets obtained from financial institutions or witness testimony taken under regulation 27, which is admissible in the later case.

If a party fails to turn up, the mediator asks for a written explanation and informs the court if none is given or it is not justified. The court can call the defaulting party to explain, and it must take the failure into account when deciding any pending application (regulation 22).

When mediation ends without agreement, or the period expires, the mediator informs the judge, who then grants the authorisation to sue. Either spouse then has two months from the decree to start the case (regulation 47(1)).

Full disclosure on day one, including FS3

For many international residents, the disclosure rules in regulation 17(2) will be the most practical change. Together with the mediation letter, the spouse must file:

a sworn note listing assets and liabilities: the community of acquests or community of residue under separate administration, paraphernal property, common property and debts, paraphernal credits and debts, and the matrimonial home, to the best of their knowledge;
proof of income for the preceding three calendar years: an official employer statement (the FS3), a statement of income, a profit and loss statement for the same period, or another official document showing income; where none is available, a sworn declaration saying so;
concrete proposals on the division of assets, debts and the matrimonial home, on care and custody, residence and access, and on maintenance and the split of health, education and extracurricular expenses.

The regulations define FS3 as the income statement under the Final Settlement System rules, together with the social security declaration. A self-employed resident, a company director paid from abroad or someone living on foreign investment income will not have an FS3, which is why the text allows an income statement, a profit and loss account or any other official document. Three years of figures need to be ready before the letter is filed, not gathered afterwards.

The other spouse is served with the letter, the note and the date of the first session, and must respond to the proposals within 20 days, filing a note with the same information and any counter-proposals (regulation 18).

Interim decisions while mediation runs

Mediation no longer means months without a decision on the urgent questions. The regulations give the court tight timeframes:

where the parties agree during mediation on maintenance, access, care and custody or residence, they file a joint application and the court can issue a decree in camera once satisfied the agreement is fair and in the best interests of the parties and the children (regulation 28);
where they disagree, either party may ask the court to decide. The court either decides in camera within 20 days, or sets a hearing within 20 days of the application and issues the interim decree within 15 days of the hearing (regulation 29);
either party can ask for provisional orders, interim decrees and warrants to safeguard their interests at any stage (regulation 33).

Maintenance

A maintenance decision must be reasoned and must consider the needs of the children and the income, means and aptitude of each party under article 54 of the Civil Code. The court must also provide for health, education and extracurricular expenses and how each parent contributes. Maintenance can be deducted directly from salary, and the paying party can be ordered to set up a standing order with their bank (regulation 30). The same procedure applies to maintenance between spouses (regulation 31).

The Act also gives the Minister power, under a new article 21A of the Civil Code, to make regulations on the method by which maintenance may be calculated, after presenting them to Parliament's Standing Committee on Family Affairs. None of the notices that brought the court into operation contains such regulations.

Custody, residence and access

Under regulation 32, the court decides care and custody, residence and access pending the case on request. It must take into account the equal responsibilities and equal rights of each parent, the rights and interests of the children, the family's circumstances and the willingness and ability each parent has shown in raising the children. Decisions are always taken in the best interests of the children.

Access is now framed as an obligation on both sides: on the parent who has it, to exercise it, and on the other parent, to provide it. Breaching either is a breach of a court decree. The Act backs this with a new paragraph (nn) in article 338 of the Criminal Code: a person ordered by a court or bound by contract to have access to a child who fails to exercise that access, or fails to take the child into care or return the child at the agreed time without just cause, commits a contravention. A new article 338A treats repeated violations of the maintenance, access and custody contraventions against the same victim as a continuous offence.

Repeated breaches of decrees can lead the court to suspend or vary the rights of the defaulting party (regulations 34 and 50).

The Children's Advocate

Children get their own lawyer. The Children's Advocate is an advocate within the Legal Aid Agency, drawn from a list of advocates with family law experience, whose principal function is to act as guardian ad litem for minor children (regulations 4 and 15). The role includes presenting the child's views to the court, explaining to the child the possible consequences of the court following the child's wishes, assisting the child in mediation and in court, and making submissions on what is in the child's best interests. Explanations and information go to the child only where the court considers the child sufficiently mature.

The court may appoint a Children's Advocate once a mediation letter has been filed and a mediator appointed, at the request of a party or the mediator (regulation 16). The legal aid merits and means test does not apply to that appointment. Each case has one Children's Advocate for all the children, with more than one where the court sees a conflict of interest between siblings (regulation 19(5)). Once the case itself starts, the court appoints or confirms the Children's Advocate after the written pleadings (regulation 47(2)).

The court can also appoint a support person as a court expert, for example to assess the therapeutic needs of parents and children. The report is due within four months, extendable by two (regulation 6).

What is not yet in force

The commencement notice is selective. L.N. 219 left several provisions of L.N. 216 out, including:

regulations 7 to 10 on support persons acting as therapists during proceedings and the confidentiality of that therapy;
regulation 14(2), on who pays mediators' and Children's Advocates' fees;
regulation 19(2) and (4), on the court appointing a Children's Advocate as guardian ad litem during mediation, of its own motion or on request, and notifying the Legal Aid Agency;
regulation 20(1), the procedure for suspending mediation and hearing an application within four days where the letter is accompanied by evidence of domestic violence;
regulation 47(5), the Children's Advocate's continuing duty during the case; and
regulation 42, insofar as it refers to the Children's Advocate in the capacity of guardian ad litem.

Regulation 20(2) is in force: where the court finds that evidence of domestic violence or of intentional manipulation of a child was false or misleading, it must refer the matter to the Executive Police. Anyone facing domestic violence should take immediate legal advice on the protection measures available rather than rely on the mediation route.

Unmarried parents, changes and property

Mediation is not only for married couples. Under regulation 39, it applies to disagreements between unmarried parents about custody, residence, access, maintenance and the children's expenses, to maintenance between spouses, and to changes to an existing separation judgment, contract or divorce decree. Where an alleged need for medical treatment or therapy for the children is at stake, the court can decide without sending the parties to mediation.

Where both parties agree to amend an approved contract or the effects of a judgment, they file a joint application with the draft and skip mediation, with a Children's Advocate appointed if the court thinks it necessary (regulation 44).

Regulation 45 gives the Family Court jurisdiction, by lawsuit, over the division and sale of property between unmarried parties who have proceedings before it and own the home they live in.

Two Civil Code changes concern money during a separation. The new article 47A lets a spouse who leaves the matrimonial home while separation is pending ask the court to authorise a reasonable amount for alternative accommodation to be taken from the community of acquests without the other spouse's consent, and to sign a lease without that consent. The expenses must be justified and proportionate, paid from funds the requesting party received or holds, and for that party's benefit and, where applicable, their children. The new article 55(4) tells the court to weigh the prejudice to each side before ordering the community of acquests to end.

Once the case is under way, each side has up to six months to file affidavit and documentary evidence (regulation 47(3)), and where the liquidation of the community of property cannot be decided quickly, the court decides the other issues first (regulation 48).

What international families should take from it

Malta has kept the mediation-first model, but it is now longer, better documented and more closely policed. For foreign residents, a few practical points follow directly from the texts:

Paperwork travels. The three-year income proof and the sworn asset list cover what you know about, wherever it is. Gather foreign tax returns, payslips and statements early.
Children are represented. A Children's Advocate can be appointed without a means test, and the court weighs each parent's demonstrated involvement.
Cross-border cases have one home. Child abduction and reciprocal maintenance enforcement now sit with the Family Court.
Access is enforceable both ways, including through the criminal law.

Families weighing a move should read the family relocation guide and the 2026 moving checklist with these rules in mind; schooling choices covered in the schools overview are exactly the kind of expense the court now has to allocate. For the background on how Malta came to divorce law only in 2011, see fifteen years of divorce in Malta.

Work with Sebastian

If your family's residence, income or assets span Malta and other countries and you want them structured with these rules in view, book a consultation.