Family Agreements in Malta
Marriage, partnership, and family bring consequences in property that are best settled by design rather than by default. The law supplies a regime where the parties provide none; where they wish to provide for themselves, it is the notary who gives their arrangement the form and the force it needs.
Marriage Contracts and the Community of Acquests
In the absence of agreement, spouses in Malta are subject to the community of acquests: what each acquires during the marriage falls, with defined exceptions, into a common mass. It is a sensible default, and for many couples it is the right one. For others — where a business is in issue, where property has come down a family, or where the parties marry later in life with estates already formed — a different arrangement is preferable.
A marriage contract, made before the marriage, may exclude or modify the community, adopt the separation of estates, or provide for a particular asset. It is a public deed and is registered. We explain what each regime means in practice, and settle the terms with both parties fully apprised.
Cohabitation Agreements
Couples who live together without marrying may regulate their affairs by a cohabitation agreement, dealing with the property they hold, the contributions each makes, and the position should the relationship end. Committing the arrangement to a deed removes from the future a good deal of what would otherwise be argued about.
Separation and Liquidation of the Community
Where a marriage is dissolved or the spouses separate, the community of acquests is liquidated and the common mass divided. The notary publishes the deed by which that division is effected, transferring the matrimonial home and the other assets in accordance with what the parties have agreed or the court has ordered, and attending to the registration that gives the division effect.
Partitions and Donations
Property held in common — between siblings after a succession, or between parties who acquired together — may be divided by deed of partition, each taking a defined share in place of an undivided one. Donations, whether between spouses, to children, or to others, are likewise made by public deed. Both carry consequences in duty and, where descendants are concerned, in the eventual succession; we set those out before the deed is published.
Other practice areas
Arranging matters within a family? Speak to us in confidence.
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