Family
Equal marriage since 2019 by Constitutional Court ruling
The Corte Constitucional recognised same-sex marriage in June 2019, applying Inter-American Court Advisory Opinion OC-24/17. De facto unions (unión de hecho) after two years produce the same effects as marriage and can be registered administratively. Consensual divorce is available before a notary where there are no minor children.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National substantive law applied by family courts and notaries
- Deadline — De facto union: legal effects after two years of cohabitation
- Deadline — Notarial divorce available immediately where consensual and no minor children
Governing law
- Código Civil del Ecuador, Book I
- Corte Constitucional, sentencias 11-18-CN and 10-18-CN2019
- Código Orgánico de la Niñez y Adolescencia
In practice
Ecuador is a clear example of Inter-American human-rights law changing domestic family law directly: the Constitutional Court treated OC-24/17 as authoritative and held that the Civil Code's opposite-sex definition was unconstitutional. Registered de facto unions have become a widely used alternative to marriage, with the registration recorded at the Registro Civil.