The contract of consensual personal separation

Abstract

The contract of consensual personal separation is an instrument whereby the spouses, by common accord, regulate vital aspects of their conjugal life so as to compromise conjugal claims and pretensions against one another. The importance of the institute of personal separation within modem society has recently been affirmed by the Maltese legislator as is evident from the enactment of new regulations concerning the procedure applicable to this institute. The Maltese Civil Code provisions together with these recent regulations now constitute the basis for all separation proceedings, including those for consensual personal separation. The scope of the contract of consensual separation, as well as the procedure leading to its publication, shall be proven to be two elements which outline its unique and distinctive nature. Finally, one must certainly recognize that the nature, content and effects of this special contract, imply that the Notary Public has a significant role in the publication thereof.