Overview

• Marriage, Civil Unions and Cohabition

Marriage

• Surnames After Marriage & Civil Unions
• Marriage Procedure
• Religious and Civil Ceremonies
• Bigamy
• Duties and Responsibilities of Spouses
• Same Sex Marriages
• Engagements

Marriage Contracts (Kitbiet taż-Żwieġ)

• Marriage Contracts
  1. Community of Acquests
  2. Separation of Estate
  3. CORSA
• Creating and Changing Marriage Contracts

Marriage, Civil Unions and Cohabitation

• Different types of legal relationships in Malta

• Separation
• Civil Annulment
• Church Annulment
• Divorce

Family Issues

• Matrimonial Home
• Parental Responsibility (Care and Custody)
• Child Support (Maintenance)
• Spousal Support (Maintenance)
• Good Grounds for Separation
• Failing to provide access and maintenance to children
• Consequences for the party who gives rise to Separation

Divorce Process

• Mediation Process
• Decisions Pending the Separation Process (Pendente Lite)
• Breach of Child Access and Maintenance
• Protection, Restraining and Treatment Orders

Domestic Violence

• What Constitutes Domestic Violence?
• Repercussions for the Perpetrator
• Assistance

Overview

• Legal Effects of Adoptions
• Open Adoption
• Right to Information

Adopting the child of a spouse

• Parent-Spouse Adoptions

Local & International Adoptions

• Who can adopt?
• Adoption Process
• 1993 Hague Convention
• Accredited Agencies
• Central Authorities
• Child Adoptions Board

Overview

• Mater semper certa est
• Natural Parentage

Solving Paternity Disputes

• Acknowledgement of Children Born out of Wedlock
• Denying Paternity (Husband of a wife argues that a child is not his)
• Impeaching Filiation (Father of a child argues that the husband of a wife is not the father of his child)

• International Child Custody Disputes
• Wrongful Removal (Child Abduction)
• Child Abduction Law
• Afraid that Your Child will be Abducted?
• Missing Children & Emergency Situations
• Parents Accused of Child Abduction
• Lawful Resettlement of a Child
• International Child Access