Civil unions in Peru: what the law says (and doesn't say)

What the law says today: only two statuses, both defined as heterosexual

The Peruvian Civil Code recognizes two forms of couple union with legal effects, and both are defined the same way. Article 234 says marriage is the union “voluntarily agreed upon by a man and a woman.” Article 326, on the common-law union — cohabitation — uses exactly the same language: “carried out and maintained by a man and a woman.” There is no third status for same-sex couples in the current text of the Civil Code, and no status named “civil union” either.

This isn’t a silent legal gap: it’s the result of concrete decisions, both from Congress and from the Constitutional Court, described below.

Two Constitutional Court rulings, same outcome

Two same-sex couples who married abroad (both cases in New York, United States) asked Reniec to register their marriage in Peru, and after being refused, took their cases to the Constitutional Court.

In Case 01739-2018-PA/TC (Sentencia 676/2020, the Óscar Ugarteche Galarza case), the Court ruled by a 4-3 majority to dismiss the claim as IMPROCEDENTE (inadmissible). In Case 02743-2021-PA/TC (Sentencia 172/2022, the Andree Alonsso Martinot Serván case), the outcome was the same: dismissed.

What makes the second ruling notable is the concurring opinion of Justice Ernesto Blume Fortini, who, while agreeing with the outcome of dismissing the claim, left an explicit recommendation for Congress:

“I consider it necessary to point out that it is important for Congress to address the request for legal protection that same-sex couples are asking for, either through a constitutional amendment following its own procedure, or, in any case, at the level of the Civil Code, through special regulation that could well be called a civil union or something similar.”

In other words: the Constitutional Court itself, while declining to recognize marriage equality, acknowledged there’s a gap only Congress can fill — and that the way to fill it could be called, precisely, a “civil union.”

The civil union bill and what happened to it

On November 20, 2024, Congress’s Justice and Human Rights Committee approved, 12 votes in favor, the report on Bill 2803/2022-CR, which creates a civil union “between two adults who want to formalize their cohabitation, regardless of whether they are of the same or opposite sex.” According to Congress’s official press release, the rights this civil union would grant include priority medical decisions, inclusion in social security, property acquired during cohabitation, pension rights, economic benefits, support payments, and inheritance rights — but it explicitly does not include adoption rights, according to the bill’s own author, congressman Alejandro Cavero Alva.

Approving the committee report is only an intermediate step. Congress’s own press release makes this clear: “the bill will now move to the floor of Congress to be debated, to determine whether it ultimately becomes law.” That next step partly happened: on March 10, 2025, Congress’s Steering Committee (Consejo Directivo) acknowledged the report and formally placed it on the floor’s agenda (orden del día), according to the official tracking record for the bill on Congress’s bill-tracking portal. The full Congress never debated or voted on it.

At the same time, political support showed signs of weakening: between December 19 and 22, 2025, four congress members who were listed as co-authors or supporters of the bill (Norma Yarrow Lumbreras, and congress members Córdova Lobatón, Bazán Calderón, and Chirinos Venegas) filed requests to withdraw their signature. The lead author, Alejandro Cavero Alva, has not withdrawn his. The 2021-2026 Congress ended in July 2026. As of 30 September 2026 the bill is not among the bills of the new Congress (2026-2031 term): it is not among the bills carried over by the Chamber of Deputies, not in the Senate, and a search for «unión civil» in both chambers returned 0 results. It is not law.

What to do with this information

If this situation affects you directly, keep three concrete things in mind. First, don’t assume a marriage performed abroad to a same-sex partner will be automatically recognized upon arrival in Peru — the experience of the two cases that reached the Constitutional Court points the other way. Second, the common-law union under Article 326, with its property and inheritance rights after two years of cohabitation, doesn’t apply today to same-sex couples under the current text of the law. Third, Bill 2803/2022-CR did not become law and, as of 30 September 2026, it is not in the new Congress. Do not plan around the assumption that a civil union will exist.