Divorce guarantees spousal maintenance for women who risk losing it today

Iva chairperson Deborah Schembri has warned separated women that they stand to lose their maintenance payments if they take up residence with another man.

“Women who are separated but choose to cohabit with another man will lose their maintenance,” Schembri said tonight in the debate organised by the Broadcasting Authority, pointing out that cohabitation was no guarantee for their ights.

Moviment Iva chairperson Dr Deborah Schembri faced Zwieg Bla Divorzju representative Arthur Galea Salomone in the final debate organised by the Broadcasting Authority.

“The decision we take on Saturday is to vote to help people live a regulate life, for those who need it. Divorce doesn’t affect strong marriages,” Schembri said.

In a message to Catholic voters, she said the Maltese Church had issued a statement on 27 March saying that voting for divorce does not mean Catholics cannot receive the Holy Eucharist or go to mass.

Zwieg Bla Divorzju representative Arthur Galea Salomone said the decision on Saturday would determine if the model of a lifelong marriage between man and woman would be changed to one which expires, without commitment.

He said the Iva movement had pulled a TV spot that said people who desired to leave marriage should be free to do so. “This is the right that a divorce ‘without reason’ gives you. If we have a country with divorce, it will be a society where commitment does not count, where a promise can be broken.”

“I am not judging a husband who leaves a wife for no reason, but is it right that he forces that divorce on her because four years had passed, without reconciliation and while he has been living with another woman?”

He said that divorce was no solution but that it created problems, increased broken marriages and children’s suffering. “The electorate has been burdened with a historic decision without being given the right tools to inform themselves... why should we shake the foundations of Maltese society and marriage without a proper impact assessment?”

In her counter-reply, Schembri said that in many countries where divorce has existed for centuries, lifelong marriages still existed.

“We are not promoting broken marriages or marriages without commitment. We want strong families, but this ideal is not achievable by everybody. We don’t want broken families to be left out of the equation. I have asked, to no avail, for solutions from the no movement for suffering people who are being forced to cohabit and have children out of wedlock. If they say marriage can become a bind that can be loosened (rabta coff) then what is cohabitation?”

She said the only solution for separated people today is forced cohabitation, and it was putting that cohabitation on the same level as marriage that would shake the foundation of marriage.

“We are proposing a responsible divorce, because you have to be already separated for four years when this decision is taken whether by mutual consent or by court order. And if you have lived apart for four years, a spouse must still file a separation case, even by court or by mutual consent (bonarja).”

Schembri said women should be able to regularise their lives instead of being forced to cohabit. “As things stand today, we’re not letting people be responsible, to have the rights they deserve. Even with marriage annulments, people still get remarried once, twice over... “

She added that cohabitation and children born out of wedlock were increasing all over the world, irrespectively of divorce “both in Malta and the Philippines where there is no divorce.”

In the second round, Galea Salomone said a solution would be to widen the grounds for annulment. He said his campaign had put children at the centre of the debate because they were voiceless victims. “They speak the truth and the truth is that they don’t want divorce.”

He even claimed that divorce would foist new parents on children. “Divorce is a race towards marital breakdown, a stopwatch to four years of separation.”

He also reiterated claims that widows’ pensions will be affected by divorce, and that husbands with an average monthly wage of €1,000 will be unable to support their new families and pay maintenance. “There is no guarantee that this maintenance will be paid, either by the courts or by sending defaulters to prison.”

Schembri pointed out that children suffered at any stage where there is marital separation. “Children see facts, not certificates. They see their parents leave the matrimonial home, but they are relieved to see that conflict is out of the house.”

Schembri said a lot of help was needed to help those experiencing marital breakdown, to help spouses be good parents and give children a serene life. “But it doesn’t mean someone not living with one natural parent is living a life worse off than living with both parents. They want serenity. The worst thing is parental conflict.”

Schembri also pointed out the importance of a tolerant society rather than one where scaremongering takes places even in schools. “The no movement erected billboards of children asking voters to vote in their name... why should they want someone to vote no when children can have a normal upbringing in marriage, a new union of two people? We can’t ignore the suffering of people....

“Not everyone will remarry, but at least they have the choice, one not imposed by the no movement or the Church. Spouses living on €1,000 must see whether they can have new families they can afford. But the reality is that cohabiting with new families today are already supporting their family and paying alimony. And if a husband pays spousal maintenance, isn’t his new wife also going to be sharing her salary with him as well?”

Schembri also harshly criticised tactics employed by the no movement, saying they had created fear amongst old people, women, children and Catholics.

In his concluding speech, Galea Salomone said the choice for divorce was not about being a Nationalist and a Labourite, “because the values of our family have no political colour. It’s not a general election, but a historic decision to introduced divorce once and for all, that will mark future generations. We don’t need to copy the failed experiments of other countries.”

Deborah Schembri reminded viewers that both Lawrence Gonzi and Eddie Fenech Adami had stated that divorce would eventually be introduced in Malta. “What are we waiting for? Why waste another €4 million on another referendum...?”

She said the divorce law proposed was conservative, allowing a four-year separation for spouses who have tried to reconcile before they file for divorce.

“It’s a divorce that takes care of children, wives and husbands, the right to maintenance... the choice is between forced cohabitation and children born out of wedlock, and remarriage. Why is this an imposition? Today if somebody separates they just impose it upon their spouse.

“There will be no changes in social security for separated spouses, or the benefits for single mothers whose children are born out of wedlock. They will not be affected if they divorce and remarry.”