Spouses that seek the avenue for personal separation and therefore termination of the obligation to cohabitate because the marriage has irretrievably broken down, may proceed by opting for any one of the below two methods:

i. Consensual Separation
In terms of Maltese Civil law, it is mandatory that the spouses first go through the process of mediation offering the spouses the possibility of reconciliation. In the case that there is no possibility of a reconciliation, but the spouses concerned have managed to reach an agreement of (consensual) personal separation, that is a personal separation agreement which will regulate the financial and non-financial matters of the parties including:
1) Care and Custody of the children;
2) Access rights to the children;
3) The amount of maintenance to be paid by the spouses and
4) The allocation of the matrimonial home and other property (movable and immovable) forming part of the community of acquests.

An agreement of (consensual) personal separation needs to be approved by the Family Court. On pronouncement of the decree, the personal separation agreement is then signed by the parties before the notary who will ensure such agreement is published and registered at the Public Registry. It is to be noted that personal separation does not bring about the termination of the marriage between the spouses but alters their contractual marriage obligations. Moreover, such agreement would be automatically revoked on the reconciliation of the parties or may be amended at any time in the future where required upon the request of either party.

ii. Judicial Separation
In the circumstances where consensual separation through mediation is not agreed upon by the parties, then the Family Court will then pronounce its authorisation for the parties to proceed to commence separation proceedings. The outcome of judical separation proceedings rests entirely at the discretion of the presiding judge.