Divorce for foreigners and expats

You do not have to be Maltese to divorce in Malta. What matters is not your nationality but whether a Maltese court has jurisdiction to hear your case, and that turns on where you live or are domiciled. Article numbers refer to the Civil Code.

When a Maltese court can hear a divorce

Under article 66N, the Maltese civil courts can hear a divorce only if at least one of these is true:

• at least one spouse was domiciled in Malta on the day the application was filed; or
• at least one spouse was ordinarily resident in Malta for the year immediately before the application was filed; or
• a case for personal separation between the same spouses is already pending before a Maltese court that has jurisdiction over it, including at appeal.

Only one spouse has to meet the test. It does not matter where the other spouse lives, or what nationality either of you holds.

Domicile, residence and nationality

These three ideas are easy to confuse, and they are different.

• Nationality is the country whose citizen you are.
• Ordinary residence is where you habitually live.
• Domicile is a legal idea, roughly the country you treat as your permanent home. You can live in one country and still be domiciled in another.

Which of them applies to you depends on the facts of your life, such as where you work, where your family lives and what you intend. We will go through this with you at the start, because it decides where your divorce can be heard.

If another EU country is involved

When your case is connected with another EU country, the EU’s Brussels IIb Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, in use since 1 August 2022) decides which country’s courts can hear a divorce. Under article 3, the courts of an EU country can hear it if, for example:

• both spouses live there;
• it is where the spouses last lived together, and one of them still lives there;
• the spouse who is responding to the application lives there;
• the application is joint and either spouse lives there;
• the spouse who applies has lived there for at least a year before applying; or
• the spouse who applies has lived there for at least six months and is a national of that country;
• or both spouses are nationals of that country.

“Lives” here means habitual residence, which is the place where a person’s life is mainly based. These grounds are alternatives, so the courts of more than one country can often hear the same divorce.

Malta’s own rule in article 66N applies only as a back-up. Under article 6 of the Regulation, national rules apply only where no EU court has jurisdiction under articles 3 to 5. A spouse who lives in an EU country, or is a national of one, can be taken to court in another EU country only on the Regulation’s grounds.

If divorce cases are started in two EU countries, article 20 says the court that was approached second must pause its case, of its own accord, until the court that was approached first has decided whether it has jurisdiction. If it does, the second court must step aside. That is why timing matters, and why it is worth taking advice before anyone starts proceedings anywhere.

If you have already divorced abroad

A divorce granted in another country may be recognised in Malta. See recognition of foreign divorces.

Which country’s law applies

In cases with a foreign element, the question of which country’s law applies to the divorce, and to the money and property that go with it, is separate from the question of which court can hear the case. We will explain how it affects you.

What to expect in practice

The Civil Code’s conditions for divorce, and its mediation step, do not depend on nationality. You can read about them under requirements and process. If documents come from another country, such as a marriage certificate, they may need to be translated or formally certified. We will tell you what is needed once we know where they come from.