Family & inheritance
Family & inheritance
Can you disinherit a child in Peru?
Only by will, and only for one of the grounds listed in the Civil Code, stated clearly in the will. A disinheritance with no stated cause, on a ground the law does not list, or subject to a condition, is void. Not getting along, or leaving the child out of the will, is not enough.
✓ Verified against the official sourceChild custody and visitation rights in Peru
Since Law 31590 (2022), shared custody (tenencia compartida) is the first legal option when parents are separated: both share parenting unless that isn't possible or would harm the child. The old rule that a child under three stays with the mother no longer exists. If parents don't agree, the judge must grant shared custody as the first option and can only exceptionally give exclusive custody to one parent.
✓ Verified against the official sourceDe facto unions in Peru: how to get legal recognition and what rights it gives
Under Article 326 of the Civil Code, cohabitation between a man and a woman free of any marriage impediment, kept up for at least two continuous years, itself creates a shared-property arrangement under the community-property regime: the text does not require a prior procedure for that. Recognition by a notary (Law 29560, from 2010) or a judge, and registration with the Personal Registry, serve to prove the union and are what Law 30007 requires for inheritance rights. A notary can recognize it if no one objects within 15 days; if someone objects, the case goes to the courts.
✓ Verified against the official sourceDivorce in Peru: mutual consent vs. fault-based
If both spouses agree, have no unresolved minor children (or have a final judgment or conciliation record on their parental authority, support, custody and visitation), and have no pending marital property to divide, they can separate at a municipality or notary's office within weeks and request the divorce two months later. If there's no agreement, the only option is to sue based on a specific legal ground — such as abandonment, violence, or two years of de facto separation — and that process is judicial and longer.
✓ Verified against the official sourceDo You Inherit Debt in Peru? The Beneficio de Inventario, Explained
No. Peruvian law automatically caps what an heir must pay toward the deceased's debts at the value of the assets they actually inherited (Article 661 of the Civil Code) — you don't need to file for any separate procedure to get that protection. But if you hide estate assets or fake debts to harm creditors, you lose that protection and become personally liable (Article 662).
✓ Verified against the official sourceDoes an unmarried partner inherit in Peru?
Yes, but only if the unión de hecho meets article 326 of the Civil Code, was in force at the moment of death, and is registered with Registros Públicos or recognised by a court. On those conditions the partner inherits like a spouse. Without them, the partner inherits nothing by law.
✓ Verified against the official sourceElderly rights in Peru: what Law 30490 actually guarantees (and what it doesn't)
From age 60, Law 30490 gives you the right to non-discrimination, priority service, a life free of violence, and MIMP intervention with protective measures if you're at risk. What that law does NOT create is a fare discount: Law 26271, the actual rule on free and discounted transit passes, only covers police officers, firefighters, schoolchildren, and university students. A bill from the previous Congress to give half fare to people 70 and older never reached a plenary vote.
✓ Verified against the official sourceFamily violence in Peru: how to report it and what the judge owes you within 48 hours
If there is danger right now: 105 (police) or 100 (the MIMP's Línea 100, free, 24 hours). To report you need no lawyer, pay no fee and need no medical certificate: you can do it at any police station, prosecutor's office or family court, and someone else can report on your behalf without your power of attorney. From the report to the protection measures, no more than 48 hours may pass.
✓ Verified against the official sourceHow an Inherited Property Is Divided Among Multiple Heirs in Peru
You don't need a lawsuit: if all the heirs are legally capable and agree, the division is done through a notarial public deed (if the asset is registered) or a private document with notarized signatures (Article 853 of the Civil Code). It only becomes a court process when heirs disagree, when an heir is legally incapacitated or has been declared absent, or when someone asks for judicial protection.
✓ Verified against the official sourceHow to find out if someone left a will in Peru: the Registro de Testamentos
While a person is alive, the law bars anyone from checking whether they made a will — only that person can request that certificate. Once they die, anyone with an interest can request the positive-or-negative will certificate for S/10, online or at any registry office, and the search covers the entire country through the Índice Nacional de Sucesiones.
✓ Verified against the official sourceHow to leave or transfer property to a minor child in Peru
Through a will, or by donating it while you're alive. But if the property ends up in your minor child's name, you — as the parent exercising patria potestad — cannot sell it, mortgage it or encumber it afterward without prior judicial authorization, and only for a justified reason of necessity or benefit to the child (Civil Code, art. 447).
✓ Verified against the official sourceIs a will made abroad valid in Peru?
Yes, as to its form. The Civil Code accepts a will made before a Peruvian consul or under the law of the country where it was signed, except joint wills, oral wills and forms incompatible with Peruvian law. Registering it with Sunarp takes legalization or an apostille, plus an official translation if it is not in Spanish.
✓ Verified against the official sourceLoss or suspension of parental authority (patria potestad) in Peru
These are two different outcomes. Suspension is temporary and reversible: it applies under 7 grounds in Article 75 (civil incapacitation, judicially declared absence, corrupting the child, allowing vagrancy or begging, physical or mental abuse, refusing to pay child support, or a fault-based divorce/separation — an uncontested divorce does NOT trigger suspension). Loss is permanent, with no path back: it applies for judicially declared abandonment, conviction for an intentional crime against the child, or repeating the abuse, corruption, vagrancy or refusal-to-support grounds. Anyone with a legitimate interest, not just the other parent, can request it before the Family Court.
✓ Verified against the official sourceParental authority after a separation in Peru: who decides on school, health and travel?
It depends on how the parents separated. In a separation by mutual consent neither parent is suspended, and with shared custody both have equal rights to decide on the child's education, upbringing and protection. Taking the child abroad needs both parents' notarized consent, with narrow exceptions. If they disagree, a judge decides.
✓ Verified against the official sourceParental child abduction within Peru: what counts as a crime and where do you report it?
Article 147 of Peru's Penal Code punishes a relative who takes a child, or refuses to hand the child back to whoever holds parental authority, with up to two years in prison. Being the child's parent is no defense. You report it at a police station, which must notify the prosecutor at once.
✓ Verified against the official sourcePeruvian inheritance law: how much you can leave to anyone, and how much your children are owed
If you have children, other descendants or a spouse, you may freely dispose of only one third of your estate — the other two thirds are the legítima and belong to your forced heirs by law. With only parents or ascendants, you may dispose of half.
✓ Verified against the official sourceProperty and inheritance in blended families: what happens if you have children from another relationship
A stepchild does not inherit from you by law, whether you're married or in a unión de hecho with their parent — only your children (biological or adopted), your spouse or partner, and your ascendants are forced heirs. If you buy property with your partner and die, your share goes to your own forced heirs, not automatically to your partner, unless you willed it to them or you were married or in a recognized unión de hecho.
✓ Verified against the official sourceREDAM: Peru's Registry of Delinquent Child Support Debtors
REDAM is a free, public registry run by Peru's Judiciary that lists anyone who owes three or more child/family-support installments. Registration isn't automatic — the beneficiary (or the judge) has to request it from the court that handled the support case, and it's only cancelled once the debtor proves the debt was paid.
✓ Verified against the official sourceSchool bullying in Peru: how to report it on SíseVe and what the school must do
Anyone — the student themselves, a family member, a neighbor — can report a bullying case directly on the SíseVe portal (siseve.minedu.gob.pe), without going through the school first. The school, for its part, is legally required to log the case in its Incident Register and report it on SíseVe as soon as it learns of it, not whenever it feels like it.
✓ Verified against the official sourceTravel Permission for Minors in Peru: When It's Required and How to Get It
If a minor who lives in Peru leaves the country without both parents, they need a travel authorization: the parent who is not travelling signs it, or both parents if the child goes alone or with another adult. It is granted before a Peruvian notary or consul, or by a judge; notarial and consular ones last 90 days, one trip.
✓ Verified against the official sourceTypes of will in Peru: which one should you make?
Peru's Civil Code recognises three ordinary wills — by public deed (escritura pública), sealed (cerrado) and handwritten (ológrafo) — plus two special ones, military and maritime. The public-deed will is the safest; a handwritten will is valid only if entirely written, dated and signed by hand, and only if a court verifies it within a year of death.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWhen a tenant, landlord or employer dies in Peru, what happens to the lease and the job?
If the tenant dies, the lease continues with the heirs who use the property unless they give notice within ninety days that they will not continue. If the landlord dies, the lease passes to the heirs. If an individual employer or the worker dies, the employment contract ends, but what was owed does not.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWhen can't a notary handle an intestate succession in Peru? A will, an objection, minor heirs and unregistered property
A notary cannot proceed if a will or an earlier intestate succession is registered, or if an interested party objects with the documents the law requires; the case then goes to a judge. Minor heirs are not listed as an obstacle. And the declaration of heirs does not register a property that is not in Sunarp.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWho inherits in Peru when there is no will?
The law decides, in this order: children and descendants; parents and ascendants; the spouse or surviving unión de hecho partner; then collateral relatives up to the fourth degree. The spouse or partner also inherits alongside the first two orders. Heirs are declared by a notary or a judge and the declaration is registered with Sunarp.
Partly verifiedAcknowledging a Child Born Outside Marriage at RENIEC
A father or mother can voluntarily acknowledge a child born outside marriage before RENIEC, either when registering the birth or afterward through an acknowledgment record; once made, this acknowledgment is generally irrevocable.
Partly verifiedAdoption in Peru: how the administrative procedure before the Dirección General de Adopciones works
Adopting a child or adolescent who has been judicially declared in desprotección familiar and adoptability is an administrative, free-of-charge procedure before the MIMP's Dirección General de Adopciones (DGA) or a regional Unidad de Adopción — not a court case. It has four stages: evaluation, designation, family integration and post-adoption. You are evaluated and declared suitable, the Consejo Nacional de Adopciones approves a designation, an empathy phase and a ten-business-day pre-adoptive placement follow, and only then is the resolution declaring the adoption issued. Spouses, partners in a common-law union with a current notarial declaration, and single people forming a one-parent family may all apply, aged 25 to 62.
Partly verifiedAutopsy and release of the body in Peru: what can the family ask for?
If the death may have been caused by a crime, the prosecutor directs the removal of the body and a legally required autopsy follows. The law does not ask the family's permission for it. Afterwards, the morgue releases the body to a close relative with the autopsy certificate, a burial record and the death certificate.
Partly verifiedCan you hit a child to discipline them in Peru? Physical and humiliating punishment is banned
No. Ley 30403 bans physical and humiliating punishment of children and adolescents everywhere: at home, at school, in the community and at work. Anyone, including the child without a representative, can report it to the DEMUNA, the MIMP's Special Protection Unit or the Public Defence service.
Partly verifiedCaring for a child without being their legal guardian in Peru: what can you do?
Raising a child in your home does not make you their legal representative: the parents who hold parental authority still are. You can care for the child, but to act for them you need a power of attorney from the parents, a guardianship (if no parent holds parental authority) or a court or state decision.
Partly verifiedChild and family support in Peru: how to request it and how much it is
There is no fixed percentage or table: a judge sets the amount based on the needs of the person asking and the financial ability of the person who must pay, without needing to closely investigate their income. You file the claim before the Juez de Paz Letrado, and the amount can later be increased, reduced, or ended if either person's circumstances change.
Partly verifiedChild support from siblings and grandparents in Peru: when you can request it
Only when the parents are absent or their whereabouts are unknown: for a child's claim, the Código de los Niños y Adolescentes (Article 93) calls on adult siblings first and grandparents second — the reverse of what is usually assumed — in a subsidiary order, not at the same time as the parents.
Partly verifiedCivil unions in Peru: what the law says (and doesn't say)
Peru has no legal status called a "civil union" today. Marriage (Article 234 of the Civil Code) and common-law unions (Article 326) are both defined only between a man and a woman. The Constitutional Court has twice rejected requests to register same-sex marriages performed abroad. A bill to create a civil union (2803/2022-CR) was put on the floor agenda in March 2025 but was never voted on, and as of 30 September 2026 it is not among the bills of the new Congress.
Partly verifiedCuratorship and legal incapacity in Peru: protecting someone who can't decide for themselves
Since 2018, Peru no longer declares people with disabilities 'legally incapacitated'; instead there is a system of supports and safeguards, and curatorship (curatela) now applies only to a few narrow situations.
Partly verifiedDigital inheritance in Peru: what happens to your accounts, social media and crypto when you die?
Peru has no law that deals with digital inheritance by name. The general rules apply: an estate passes on assets, rights and obligations, and a will can carry instructions. Your personal data and private correspondence follow separate rules. What each platform does depends on its own terms, not on the law.
Partly verifiedEstablishing Paternity in Peru Outside Marriage: The Judicial Process and DNA Testing
If the father does not voluntarily acknowledge the child, the mother (or the child's legal representative) can ask a local judge to order a DNA test through the fast-track special process created by Ley N° 28457, which is much quicker than an ordinary paternity lawsuit.
Partly verifiedFamily risk and lack of parental care: when can the Peruvian State step in to protect a child?
Decreto Legislativo 1297 separates two situations. In a risk of losing parental care («riesgo de desprotección familiar»), a child's rights are threatened but not seriously: the State supports the family and never removes the child for that reason. In a lack of parental care («desprotección familiar»), the harm is serious: the child can be removed temporarily and placed in foster or residential care, and a judge reviews that decision. Poverty alone never justifies separating a child from their family.
Partly verifiedHow do you renounce an inheritance in Peru, and what does it do?
You renounce by public deed (escritura pública), or by a record before the judge handling the succession, within three months if you are in Peru or six if you are abroad: after that period without renouncing, the law presumes you accepted. A renunciation is all-or-nothing and irrevocable, and its effects go back to the opening of the succession, but your own children can still inherit in your place by representation.
Partly verifiedInheriting property in Peru from a foreigner who lived abroad: which law applies and how it is processed
The estate is governed by the law of the deceased's last domicile, even for property located in Peru. Peruvian law applies to that property only if the foreign law sends it to a foreign State. A foreign court ruling that names the heirs is recognised in Peru through exequátur before a Superior Court civil chamber.
Partly verifiedInternational child abduction in Peru: what to do if your child was taken abroad
Contact MIMP immediately (Peru's Central Authority under the Hague Convention) and file a request for international return; don't wait, because every day that passes makes return harder.
Partly verifiedMarital property regimes in Peru: what happens to shared assets
In Peru, if you don't choose otherwise before marrying, the law automatically places you under 'sociedad de gananciales' (community property), where almost everything earned or bought during the marriage is split 50/50 upon divorce. To avoid that, couples must sign a separate-property agreement before a notary, by public deed, before the wedding.
Partly verifiedWhat does the DEMUNA do in Peru, and what doesn't it? Free mediation on child support, custody and visits
The DEMUNA is a free service at your municipality that mediates only child support, custody and visitation, and its agreements are enforceable titles if a judge has not already ruled on the matter. It also takes cases of children at risk, helps with birth registration and the DNI, and reports offences. It does not issue rulings or mediate other matters.
Partly verifiedWhat is a bequest (legado) and how is it different from an inheritance in Peru?
An heir (heredero) succeeds under universal title (Article 735 of the Civil Code): they receive all or a share of the deceased's estate — assets and also debts. A legatee (legatario) succeeds under particular title: they receive only the specific asset the testator left them. The most important practical difference is debt: an heir is liable for the estate's debts (in proportion to their share, and only up to the value they inherited), but a legatee, as a general rule, is not.
Partly verifiedWhat rights does a child or adolescent have in Peru? The essentials of the Children and Adolescents Code
The Children and Adolescents Code (Ley 27337) is still in force: a child is anyone under 12 and an adolescent is 12 to 18. Every State measure must weigh their best interests, they have a right to be heard on what affects them and to good treatment, and your district's DEMUNA helps for free.
Partly verifiedWho represents and protects a foreign child who is in Peru without their parents?
Peru's Children's Code applies to every child in Peru, whatever their nationality. Guardianship is governed by the law of the child's domicile, but urgent protection follows Peruvian law. An unaccompanied child is placed with the Ministry of Women (MIMP) and can receive humanitarian immigration status.