When can't a notary handle an intestate succession in Peru? A will, an objection, minor heirs and unregistered property

What you already know, and the gap

Our page on intestate succession covers who inherits when there is no will and that the process can go through a notary or a court. This page covers what comes next: when a notary cannot handle it or has to stop, and what the notarial record does and does not do for real estate.

The choice between notary and court is in article 1 of Ley 26662:

“Los interesados pueden recurrir indistintamente ante el Poder Judicial o ante Notario para tramitar según corresponda los siguientes asuntos: […] 6. Sucesión intestada.”

(Interested parties may go either to the courts or to a notary for the listed matters, including intestate succession.) You choose. But the notarial route has conditions.

How the notarial process works

• Who and where (art. 38, as amended by Ley 30007): any interested party under article 815 of the Civil Code, or the surviving partner of a legally recognised de facto union, files “ante el notario del lugar del último domicilio del causante” (with the notary where the deceased last lived).
• Lawyer (art. 14): the application and any filings must be signed by a lawyer.
• Documents (art. 39): the deceased’s name, death certificate, heirs’ birth certificates, marriage certificate or registration of the de facto union, a “relación de los bienes conocidos” (list of known assets), and a registry certificate showing no will and no other intestate succession is registered.
• Registry note and notice (arts. 40 and 13): the notary has a preventive note entered and a notice published “por una sola vez en el diario oficial y en otro de amplia circulación” (once, in the official gazette and one other widely read paper).
• Record (art. 43): “Transcurridos quince días útiles desde la publicación del último aviso, el notario extenderá un acta declarando herederos del causante a quienes hubiesen acreditado su derecho.” (Fifteen working days after the last notice, the notary issues a record declaring as heirs those who proved their right.)
• Registration (art. 44): the notary sends copies to the Registro de Sucesión Intestada and to the registries where the deceased had recorded assets.

First obstacle: a will, or a succession already registered

Intestate succession exists for when no will distributes the estate. Article 815 of the Civil Code says the estate goes to the legal heirs when the deceased “muere sin dejar testamento, o el que otorgó fue declarado nulo” (dies without a will, or the will was declared void), when the will names no heirs, and in other cases. If a valid will names heirs, intestate succession does not apply, except for assets the will did not dispose of (item 5).

The notary checks this with a document. Article 39, item 6, requires:

“Certificación Registral en la que conste que no hay inscrito testamento u otro proceso de sucesión intestada; en el lugar del último domicilio del causante y en aquél donde hubiera tenido bienes inscritos.”

(A registry certificate showing that no will and no other intestate succession is registered where the deceased last lived and where they had recorded assets.)

That stops the process in two cases:

1. A will is registered. If you do not know whether one exists, see how to check the wills registry.
2. Another intestate succession is already registered. If a relative already obtained a declaration that left you out, you cannot open a second one with a notary. Your route is the claim for the estate (petición de herencia), explained on the intestate succession page.

Second obstacle: an objection backed by documents

Article 6 of Ley 26662, as amended by Ley 32377 in June 2025, says:

“Es requisito indispensable el consentimiento unánime de los interesados. Si alguno de ellos, en cualquier momento de la tramitación manifiesta oposición, el notario debe suspender inmediatamente su actuación y remitir lo actuado al juez correspondiente, bajo responsabilidad. En los casos de sucesión intestada, la oposición debe acreditarse con los documentos señalados en el artículo 834 del Código Procesal Civil; de lo contrario será rechazada por el notario y se continuará con el trámite correspondiente.”

(Unanimous consent is essential. If any interested party objects at any point, the notary must stop at once and send the file to the competent judge. In intestate succession, the objection must be backed by the documents in article 834 of the Código Procesal Civil; otherwise the notary rejects it and the process continues.)

The article 834 documents are those proving someone is an heir: “la copia certificada de la partida correspondiente, o instrumento público que contenga el reconocimiento o declaración judicial de filiación” (a certified civil record, or a public instrument containing acknowledgment or a court declaration of parentage).

In practice:

• An objection with those documents forces the notary to stop and send the file to a judge. The case leaves the notary’s office.
• An objection without them is rejected, and the process goes on.

Do not confuse an objection with a new heir appearing. Article 42 lets anyone who considers themselves an heir come forward with proof. The notary “lo pondrá en conocimiento de los solicitantes. Si transcurridos diez días útiles no mediará oposición, el notario lo incluirá en su declaración” (tells the applicants, and if there is no objection within ten working days, includes that person). A sibling who turns up with a birth certificate does not stop the process if nobody disputes the relationship.

Minor heirs: not an obstacle in the law

Many people believe that minor children force the case into court. Articles 38 to 44 of Ley 26662, which govern the notarial route, do not mention minors or list them as an obstacle. This is our reading of those articles; the law does not say it in those words.

The rule about minors we did find is for the court route. Article 759 of the Código Procesal Civil, as amended by Ley 32377, says:

“En los procesos de sucesión intestada no es necesaria la notificación al Ministerio Público; salvo que entre los herederos existan menores de edad o Consejo de Familia constituido con anterioridad.”

(In court intestate succession, the Public Prosecutor need not be notified unless some heirs are minors or a family council was already set up.) That rule is written for the judge, not for the notary.

What we did not review is how a minor heir is represented in the process, especially when their mother or father is also an heir. Ask the notary or a lawyer before you start.

Unregistered property: the declaration does not fix it

The notarial record declares who the heirs are. It is not a title to each asset. Article 44 says where it goes:

“Cumplido el trámite indicado en el Artículo 43, el notario remitirá partes al Registro de Sucesión Intestada del lugar donde se ha seguido el trámite y a los Registros donde el causante tenga bienes o derechos inscritos, a fin que se inscriba la sucesión intestada.”

(The notary sends copies to the intestate succession registry where the process took place and to the registries where the deceased has recorded assets or rights.) Article 2041 of the Civil Code confirms that the intestate succession registry records “las actas notariales y las resoluciones judiciales ejecutoriadas que declaran a los herederos del causante” (the notarial records and final court rulings declaring the heirs).

What follows, though the law does not say it in these words: the notary only sends copies to registries where the deceased has recorded assets. If the house:

• is not recorded at Sunarp, or
• is recorded in someone else’s name (for example the previous owner, because the purchase was done by private document and never registered), or
• has a recorded area or boundaries that do not match reality,

the declaration does not put that house in the heirs’ names. The application only needs a “relación de los bienes conocidos”; listing the house there does not register it.

In those cases the property has to be regularised first. See physical-legal title regularisation. To see how the property is recorded today, get a copia literal from Sunarp.

In the meantime: bank accounts and contracts

The declaration unlocks other steps. Banks and the SBS ask for it before giving information on or paying out the deceased’s deposits: see a deceased person’s bank accounts. If the deceased rented a home or had an employment contract, what happens to those contracts is covered in when a tenant, landlord, employer or worker dies.

What this page does not cover

We do not explain how the case proceeds once the notary sends it to court, or how a will is proven or registered. We did not review Sunarp’s property registry rules, notaries’ association guidelines or notarial fees. We also do not cover how a minor heir is represented when their parent is also an heir.