De facto unions in Peru: how to get legal recognition and what rights it gives

What a de facto union is and what it creates

Article 326 of the Civil Code defines a de facto union (unión de hecho) as cohabitation “voluntarily entered into and maintained by a man and a woman, free of any marriage impediment, to achieve purposes and fulfill duties similar to those of marriage,” provided it has lasted at least two continuous years. Once those requirements are met, the union “creates a shared-property arrangement subject to the marital community-property regime, to the extent applicable” — in general terms, property acquired during the cohabitation is split as if it were marital community property.

This page focuses on something many guides blur: the shared-property arrangement is created by the de facto union that meets Article 326 itself; notarial or judicial recognition and registration with the Personal Registry are a separate matter. The text of Article 326 does not make the property arrangement depend on prior recognition. Recognition and registration give you a document to prove the union to banks, employers and your partner’s heirs if they pass away, and for succession rights Law 30007 requires the union to be registered with the Personal Registry or judicially recognized. What the norms cited here do not say is what proof each third party will demand to accept an unrecognized union; in practice, the lack of a document makes it harder to prove. If what you’re looking for is specifically what you’d inherit once the union is recognized, Law 30007 and its requirements are covered in detail in our guide on unmarried partner inheritance in Peru.

Two paths to recognition: a notary or a judge

Since Article 326 of the Civil Code has existed (1984), a de facto union has always been recognizable through the courts, by proving a settled state of cohabitation before a judge. That path still exists, and it’s the only option when there’s disagreement or an objection.

Since 2010, Law 29560 expanded the Law on Notarial Jurisdiction over Non-Contentious Matters (Law 26662) to let a notary grant this recognition directly, without a lawsuit, when both partners agree and no one objects. Article 45 of that law puts it this way: “Notarial recognition of the de facto union between a man and a woman is available when they voluntarily meet the requirements set out in Article 326 of the Civil Code.” In practice, most uncontested recognitions today go through the notarial route, since it’s faster and doesn’t require litigation.

The notarial procedure, step by step

Law 29560 spells out exactly what the request must contain and how the notarial procedure moves forward. The steps are listed above with detail on each; in short, the legal order is: (1) gather the documents and statements required by Article 46, (2) file the request with a notary, (3) wait through the publication of the summary and the fifteen-day objection period set by Article 48, (4) if no one objects, sign the public deed, and (5) register the recognition with the Personal Registry under Article 49.

One point worth taking seriously: Article 51 of Law 29560 establishes criminal liability for anyone who gives the notary false information to support their request — for example, declaring they’re free of a marriage impediment when they aren’t.

What happens if someone objects

If someone files an objection during the publication period — for example, a spouse who isn’t divorced, or a third party who disputes the cohabitation — Article 50 of Law 29560 sends the file to the courts. From that point, recognition stops being a notarial matter and becomes a judicial proceeding, governed by the general evidentiary rules (witnesses, documents, and so on) that apply to the judicial route.

How an already-recognized de facto union ends

Article 52 of Law 29560 lets partners formally record the end of their cohabitation, also through a public deed, and in that same document they can settle the shared property the union created. Unlike the initial recognition, ending it does not require any publication. Like the recognition itself, the termination is registered with the Personal Registry.

What to do with this information

If you’ve been living with your partner for more than two years, Article 326 already creates the shared-property arrangement without any procedure; if you also want a document to prove it and clear effects over inheritance if one of you passes away, the concrete next step is to gather the Article 46 documents (domicile certificates, certificados negativos de unión de hecho, witness statements) and file them with a notary. If either of you is still legally married to someone else, resolve that first: you won’t be able to validly declare that you’re free of a marriage impediment. And if what you want to understand is specifically what you would inherit if your recognized partner passed away, see our dedicated guide, which covers Law 30007 in more depth than fits here.

How does this compare to marital property regimes?

A recognized de facto union generally follows rules similar to a marriage’s community property regime for assets acquired during cohabitation. See the full comparison in marital property regimes in Peru: what happens to shared assets.