Malta: Family Court mediation program saves 220 marriages (12%)

[Note: It says the figure doesn't include cases that the parties simply drop. It would be nice to know how many of those there are.
Malta is a small island nation between Italy and North Africa.
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Mediation saves 220 marriages in three years
Malta Today
October 10, 2006
James Debono

Malta. 220 couples whose marriage was on the rocks after entering separation
proceedings are now back together, thanks to the mediation system introduced
three years ago with the aim of avoiding legal litigation and encourage
reconciliation when possible.

It means that 12 per cent of all personal separations initiated in the
Family Court since January 2004 have ended with the reconciliation of the
estranged spouses.

In the first nine months of 2006, 72 couples were reconciled following
mediation. The year before, 111 separation cases ended in reconciliation, a
sharp increase from 2004 when only 34 cases ended in reconciliation.

Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, the architect of the legal
reform which introduced mediation services in Malta, is moderately satisfied
by these results: “There is room for improvement but overall the system has
offered estranged couples the opportunity of having someone who listens to
them before taking their case to court.”

According to Mifsud Bonnici the figure of 220 reconciliation does not
reflect the full picture as it does not include a significant number of
couples who simply drop separation procedures and do not proceed with the
mediation.

He also specified that mediation services are not only aimed at helping
separating couples, but also at cohabiting partners seeking agreement on the
separation of goods and the custody of children.