Common-Law Union

The stable and monogamous union -in Ecuador- between two persons free of marriage, of legal age, who form a de facto household, generates the same rights and obligations that families constituted by marriage have and gives rise to a property partnership.

Stable extramarital relationships, which have been consolidated over time and are free of the marriage bond, generate a regime very similar to marriage, since the rights and obligations of cohabitants are similar to those of spouses, and the children resulting from the cohabitation have the same rights as children within marriage.

The de facto union grants cohabitants benefits equal to those of marriage, such as:

• Social Security benefits.
• Family allowance and other social benefits established for the spouse.
• Property partnership between cohabitants.
• Possibility of constituting family patrimony for the benefit of the children.
• Power to make adoptions.

It is not as formal as marriage, but it is not as fragile as living without legal recognition of the de facto home.

The registration of de facto unions in the Civil Registry is intended to facilitate the exercise of rights and obligations derived from stable and monogamous cohabitation between persons who are not married.

A common-law marriage can be effected in two ways:
a) Notary: It can be done before a Notary when both parties have the will to do so by mutual consent.
b) Judicial: When one of the parties goes to the corresponding Judicial Unit and demands the other party to declare and recognize the common-law marriage.

The de facto union is the option that couples have to create a property partnership parallel to the marital partnership, without the need to resort to the solemnity of marriage. Like marriage, the common-law union is stable and monogamous, with the purpose of allowing the couple to live together and help each other by sharing “roof, bed and table”.

In case of controversy, it will be presumed that the union is stable and monogamous when at least two years have elapsed, in which the cohabitants have shared roof, bed and table. Simple sporadic amorous encounters do not constitute a de facto union.

Persons in a de facto union may also enter into marriage contracts, establish the economic regime governing the de facto household and constitute family property for themselves and for the benefit of their descendants on real estate.

If you have any doubts or if your case is special, please write to us, and you will have at your disposal a team of proven professionals with experience in all areas of Family Law, together with a staff of attorneys that offers a service that is different from what is commonly offered by other lawyers, notaries or non-professionals.

We have more than 30 years in Ecuador homologating judgments and more than 25 years in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, serving the Ecuadorian and Latino community in general.