The house in a Maltese separation or divorce

Unless the spouses chose a different regime before or during the marriage, Maltese law places what a couple acquires during the marriage into the community of acquests (Civil Code, Cap. 16): it belongs to both, in equal shares, regardless of whose name is on the deed or who paid the deposit. A home bought during the marriage is almost always community property.

Property owned before the marriage, and property inherited or received by donation during it, is generally paraphernal, that spouse's own. Which side of the line your home sits on is a question of dates and deeds, and it is the first thing the notary or your advocate will establish, so bring the purchase deed to the first meeting.

Sell and divide. The house goes to market, the sale proceeds settle first the mortgage and then the division agreed in the separation. This is the clean-break route, and it works best when the number is established early and neutrally: an independent, data-backed valuation lowers the temperature of every later conversation.

One spouse takes it. The home is assigned to one spouse in the separation contract, usually against a balancing payment or an offset elsewhere in the settlement, and any mortgage is refinanced into that spouse's name, which needs the bank's consent and that spouse's borrowing capacity, checked before the agreement is signed rather than after.

Hold, for a defined time. Occasionally the home is kept jointly for a period, commonly around children's schooling, with occupation and costs written into the agreement and a trigger for the eventual sale. It works only when the terms are explicit: who lives there, who pays what, what date or event ends it.

Maltese separations begin with mediation before the Family Court section; the route to a consensual separation runs through it, and the separation itself is concluded by public deed before a notary (or decided by the court where agreement fails). The home's route, whichever of the 3 it is, is written into that contract or judgment.

Transfers of the home between spouses in the context of separation or divorce benefit from reliefs on duty and on the property transfer tax; the details are the notary's to compute on your actual deed. What both spouses should do before any of it: know the number. Neither route can be negotiated sensibly around a house whose value is a guess.

Neither spouse can sell or burden the community home alone, so unilateral action is off the table; use that fact as a reason to negotiate rather than a weapon. Keep paying the mortgage while the process runs, because arrears hurt both parties' outcomes equally. And if the house is going to market, agree the practical rules early: the asking price and the floor, who handles viewings, and what happens to an offer one spouse likes and the other does not.

If the sale needs to be quick once agreed, the fast-sale guide covers what speed honestly costs; nothing about a separation changes that arithmetic.

This guide describes the position in August 2026 and is general information, not advice on your separation. The community of acquests and paraphernal property are the Civil Code (Cap. 16 of the Laws of Malta); mediation and the separation process sit with the Family Court section of the Civil Court; duty and transfer-tax reliefs between spouses are the Commissioner for Revenue's. Your advocate and notary apply all of it to your actual deeds and dates.