The number of court cases waiting to be heard before the family courts in Valletta have gone down to 1,142, which is 18% less than the number of pending cases registered five years ago.

Addressing a press conference on the operation of the Family Court, Minister for Justice and Culture Owen Bonnici said that mediation has increased by 26.5% wen compared to five years ago. Dr Bonnici said that mediation is mandatory but more than 33% of mediation processes were concluded amicably.

He also explained that the number of family court cases have decreased. In the last three months, the cases before the Family Court were reduced by 21%. The Minister said that the government had reduced the tariff for opening court cases to make process easier and more efficient.

Out of the 462 meditation processes opened this year, 461 are already concluded. Out of these, 213 were resolved at mediation stage. 24 separation cases ended up with the couple getting back together. 98 cases had to proceed to court.

Meditation process normally takes around three months and as Dr Bonnici explained, the government has invested in professional, well-trained mediators.

The government is also in the process of concluding the tendering process of the Family Court registry. The tender process ends on 2 May.