A comparative study of divorce procedures in the EU member states

Abstract

Malta officially legalized divorce on the 28th of May 2011 thereby putting to an end Europe's longest-standing constitutional prohibition of this institution. Infact, Malta was the last European member state which forbid the formal dissolution of the sacrament of marriage. With a majority of 53.2 percent, the YES vote was victorious in a non-binding referendum which divided the nation, and consequently divorce was introduced into the Maltese Civil Code by virtue of the Civil Code amendment act, which came into force in the month of October of 2011. The Maltese divorce system is based upon the Irish model, one which allows divorcing spouses to dissolve their marriage only after a four year separation period, and thus one which can be regarded as one of the most conservative of Europe. The influence of the Catholic Church and its belief in the indissolubility of a marriage undoubtedly played a major part in the formation of the law and its restrictive denomination as although the necessity was felt to introduce divorce as a civil right, one could not completely disregard our Catholic heritage and our moral conscience. What ensued was essentially a law which distinguishes itself from the divorce systems within the other Member states and this due to its conservative stance, its rigidity and its procedural rules. What this study aims to achieve is the attainment of a more flexible procedure which departs from the Irish model and is centred even further around the individual and his respective needs, with respect to the divorce per se and to spousal maintenance and child custody. In this regard, Chapters 1,2,3 will delve into the grounds of divorce, custody and maintenance laws of most of the EU member states in an attempt at coming up with a ' better' system for Malta, whose law will be discussed in Chapter 4.