The Gozo Family Court refused to pronounce divorce ahead of the final judgment: article 66B requires adequate maintenance to be in place, and a pendente lite decree the husband is contesting does not count.
The Court of Magistrates (Gozo) ordered a birth act annotated so that the double-barrelled surname the applicant has long used replaces the registered one; the change reaches only the acts in the Director's power, not the passport or identity card.
The First Hall ordered the Public Registry to correct a family's birth and marriage acts so that Malta shows the surname they hold in Sweden, to avoid a double identity; the Director, who had copied the foreign acts verbatim, was not at fault.
The Court of Appeal recalculated a matrimonial home at €397,070 using the Central Bank's property price index, and held that a €73,004 equalisation owed by the husband must be deducted from his share, not from the whole value before division.
Where a child spends half his time with each parent, the Court of Appeal held that neither pays the other maintenance: each meets the child's needs in their own time, and health, education and activities are shared equally.
The Family Court gave the mother exclusive custody of three minors, made permanent a 2019 decree stripping the deported father of parental authority, and fixed €200 a month per child: the duty to maintain does not depend on the parent's job.
The Family Court annulled a 2021 civil union under article 19(1)(f) of the Marriage Act: the respondent never intended to be faithful. Deceit about her affairs did not qualify as fraud under article 19(1)(c).
The Family Court pronounced separation for the husband's sole fault after decades of domestic violence, applied the article 48 forfeitures, and paid the wife's maintenance by assigning her his half of a stable rather than trusting him to pay monthly.
The Court of Appeal keeps exclusive custody with the mother because the parents cannot communicate, but replaces access confined to playgrounds with a stepped regime tied to the father's shift roster that ends in sleepovers.
The Family Section varied a notarial custody deal and gave a mother sole custody after finding the father had alienated their daughter from her for years. It cut his access to set hours. It matters to unmarried parents with agreed custody terms.
The Family Section separated a couple for the husband's violence and cruelty, but stripped the wife of later acquests over unfounded abuse allegations made after they split. It also rebuilt the community from his income. It matters in contested separations with children.
The Family Section granted a wife separation for irretrievable breakdown but threw out her divorce claim, filed in the same sworn application. It also held that a husband's default is not an admission of fault. It matters to every lawyer drafting a marriage claim.