The cohabitation agreement and certificate

A cohabitation deed is how a couple who live together put their relationship on a legal footing in Malta. This page explains how it works. Article numbers refer to the Cohabitation Act (Cap. 614).

Who can make a deed

Anyone who intends to live together as a couple, or already does, and wants to be governed by the Act, can regulate their cohabitation by a public deed (article 3). The deed is void if it is between (article 4):

• people one of whom is under eighteen;
• a parent or other ancestor and a descendant;
• siblings, whether full or half;
• an adopter and the adopted person;
• people one of whom cannot give consent because of interdiction, incapacitation or lack of reason;
• people one or both of whom are married or in a civil union, in Malta or elsewhere;
• people one or both of whom are bound by an earlier deed of cohabitation, or by a registered or unilaterally declared cohabitation under the earlier Cohabitation Act; or
• people one of whom is in a relationship with someone else that is already regulated by a foreign law that gives rights and obligations between them.

How a deed is made

1. You go to a notary. You must declare that nothing prevents you from validly entering the deed, and whether you have had an earlier deed that was dissolved (article 5).
2. You provide a free status certificate (or the equivalent foreign document), issued not more than 90 days before the deed (article 5).
3. The notary explains the consequences of the deed and each clause you choose, and records that they have done so (article 5).
4. The deed is registered. The notary enrols it in the Public Registry within 15 working days, and the Director of the Public Registry issues a certificate of cohabitation within 20 days of the enrolment (article 5).

The deed takes effect between you from its publication, and against other people from its enrolment (article 3). A clause that breaches the Act, or that provides for how the cohabitation will be dissolved, is void (article 5).

What the deed can cover

• The law that governs it. You can choose the law of the place where you or one of you habitually live, the law of the country of either partner’s citizenship, or the law under which the deed was made. If you do not choose, Maltese law applies (article 7).
• A community of assets. You must say whether the Act’s rules on a community of assets apply. If you say nothing, they are presumed not to (articles 8 and 10). If you include them, the community covers only the cohabitation home, where it was acquired after the deed (and not if it came to one of you by donation or succession, or before the cohabitation), and movables kept in the home acquired after the deed. Money, securities, vehicles, boats and items used by only one of you are not included (article 11). Everything else belongs to the person who owns it.

Changing the deed

You can amend or correct a deed by a later public deed, with the authorisation of the court. The court checks that the changes do not go against the best interests of any dependent children or leave either of you in a vulnerable position, and may hear you both in person (article 9).

EU rules

The EU Regulation on the property consequences of registered partnerships applies to cohabitations registered by public deed under the Act (article 6).