Through the 2017 amendments to the Maltese Civil Code, same-sex couples have been placed at par with heterosexual couples. As regards to marriage issues, there is no difference between heterosexual and same-sex couples.
In order to get married, same-sex couples have to go through the ordinary formalities required for marriage, that is to say, register their intention to marry with the public registrar, who ensures that the banns are published and hold the marriage ceremony within the stipulated time frame.
The legal amendments of 2017 also brought about more equality in heterosexual relationships. The rule that the wife may take the surname of her spouse but the husband cannot adopt the surname of his spouse has been done away with. Since 2017 the spouses adopt a family name, which may be made up of a combination the surname of both spouses.
The legal amendments of 2017 made it possible for same sex individual to contract marriage and this rendered the Civil Unions Act of 2014 somewhat obsolete.
Adoption
A line of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights stating that gay persons should not be prevented from adopting children dated back to at least 2008 (EB vs. France). However, it was only through legal amendments in 2014 that it was laid down in Maltese law that same sex couples should not be prevented from adopting.
Through the legal amendments of 2014 and 2017 Malta came to be one of the best countries for LGBT persons in Europe.
