How do you correct an error in a relative's death record in Peru?

Losing a relative is hard enough. Finding a misspelled name or a wrong date on their death record afterwards is a separate problem, and it can be fixed. This page covers who can ask for the correction and which of three routes applies. How a death is registered and how to get copies is on registering a death and getting copies. Errors in your own DNI or birth record are on correcting your data at Reniec.

A note on words: in Peru the certificado de defunción is the medical certificate a doctor signs. The acta de defunción (older ones say partida de defunción) is the civil registry record. This page is about correcting the acta.

Who can ask for the correction

The person named in the record can no longer do it, so the rules let others. For the Reniec route, article 72 of the Registration Regulation says:

“Pueden solicitar rectificaciones administrativas de las inscripciones: a) El titular o su mandatario. Si el titular hubiese fallecido podrá hacerlo cualquiera de sus familiares, dentro del cuarto grado de consanguinidad o segundo de afinidad, sus herederos, legatarios o albacea si lo hubiese. […] c) El Ministerio Público, si el fallecido no tuviera parientes, herederos ni legatarios.”

(If the person has died, any relative up to the fourth degree of blood kinship or second degree by marriage, their heirs, legatees or executor may apply. If there are none, the Public Prosecutor’s Office may.)

For the notarial route, Ley 26662 (art. 16(4)) allows “cualquiera de los parientes hasta el cuarto grado de consanguinidad o segundo de afinidad del fallecido, para la partida de defunción” (any relative of the deceased up to the fourth degree of blood kinship or second by marriage).

If you are unsure of your degree of kinship, ask when you file.

The three routes

1. Administrative correction at Reniec

Article 71 of the Registration Regulation allows administrative correction “cuando se determine algun error en la inscripción” (when an error is found in the record) or “cuando se haya omitido alguna información” (when information was left out). Reniec’s gob.pe page, last updated 3 June 2025, confirms it covers death records:

“Si un acta registral de nacimiento, matrimonio o defunción inscrita en Reniec tiene un error u omisión de algún dato, puedes solicitar su rectificación administrativa a la entidad. […] Este trámite es gratuito.”

(If a birth, marriage or death record held by Reniec has an error or missing detail, you can ask Reniec to correct it. The procedure is free.)

You file one request per record, signed as a sworn statement (declaración jurada), with your ID and the document that proves the error. You can file at an office or through Reniec’s virtual filing desk. If the error is in the date or place of death, the page asks for “el certificado de defunción, la constancia del Minsa, el oficio de la autoridad competente o la resolución judicial” (the medical death certificate, a Minsa certificate, an official letter from the competent authority, or a court ruling).

According to the page, Reniec processes the request within 30 business days. If approved, you must publish a correction notice in El Peruano or another national newspaper and take the publication to the office where you started.

After the notice, anyone who feels harmed can object within 15 days, and must bring documentary evidence; without it the objection is rejected outright (Regulation, art. 74).

One detail: article 76 of the Regulation allows spelling mistakes and similar errors “que resultan manifiestos de la revisión de las propias actas” (that are obvious from the records themselves) to be corrected without the published notice. Reniec’s page, by contrast, mentions the notice for every approved request. Ask at the office whether your case needs the notice before you pay for it.

2. Before a notary, if the error is evident

Ley 26662 lets you go “indistintamente ante el Poder Judicial o ante Notario” (to either the courts or a notary) to correct civil records (art. 1). Article 15 sets the limit:

“Las rectificaciones que tengan por objeto corregir los errores y omisiones de nombre, apellidos, fecha de nacimiento, de matrimonio, defunción u otros que resulten evidente del tenor de la propia partida o de otros documentos probatorios, se tramitarán ante notario. En ningún caso se podrá seguir el trámite notarial para cambiar el nombre de la persona o sus apellidos, el sexo u otra información contenida en la partida que no surja de un error evidente.”

(Errors and omissions in names, surnames, dates of birth, marriage or death, and similar details that are evident from the record itself or other documents go to a notary. The notarial route can never be used to change a name, surnames, sex or other information that does not come from an evident error.)

How it works:

• only notaries who are lawyers can do it (art. 3);
• you bring the record with the error and “los instrumentos que acreditan fehacientemente el pedido” (documents that reliably prove the request) (art. 17);
• the notary has a summary of the request published (art. 18);
• once ten business days (días útiles) have passed since the last notice, the notary turns the request into a public deed and sends copies to the registry (art. 19).

Everyone involved must agree. If any interested party objects at any point, the notary stops and sends the file to a judge (art. 6, as worded by Ley 32377 in 2025).

3. Before a judge

In court, the competent judge is the Juez de Paz Letrado, under the Civil Procedure Code (Ley 26662, art. 2). This is the route when the detail does not come from an evident error, because article 15 closes the notarial door in those cases, or when a notarial procedure stops because of an objection. The last point follows from articles 6 and 15 read together; the law does not say it in one sentence. Here a lawyer is worth it.

Afterwards: registering the correction at Reniec

If the correction came from a notary or a judge, there is one more step. Reniec’s page says you can register that correction at Reniec “siempre que el acta se encuentre registrada en su base de datos” (as long as the record is in its database). You bring the notary’s copies, or the court’s letter and order, with your ID. The fee is S/ 7.60 for a notarial correction and S/ 13.80 for a court correction (payment code 06610), and Reniec processes it within 10 business days at most. You can then order a certified copy of the corrected record.

Why it is worth fixing early

For an intestate succession before a notary, article 39 of Ley 26662 requires a “copia certificada de la partida de defunción” (certified copy of the death record). If the name or ID number on the record does not match the deceased’s other documents, a notary, a registry or a bank is likely to raise it. This is a practical consequence: we found no rule saying an error in the record blocks an inheritance. If you are at that stage, see how intestate succession works and what a bank can do with a deceased person’s accounts.

What this page does not cover

We do not cover late registration of a death or copies (see their own page), notary fees, the cost of the newspaper notice, or the court process step by step. We also do not cover records held only by a municipality and not in Reniec’s database, cancelling duplicate records, or deaths registered at a Peruvian consulate.