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Certified Chilean Legal Separation Translation
Certified translation of the documents that record a legal separation in Chile, including the registry annotations and endorsements that carry the legal effect and that a reader unfamiliar with the system will otherwise skip.
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Chile only got divorce in 2004
The Nueva Ley de Matrimonio Civil, Ley 19.947, introduced divorce in 2004 — Chile was among the last countries in the world to do so. The same statute created separación judicial as a distinct remedy.
So a Chilean marriage that ended before 2004 ended by nulidad — annulment, historically obtained on a technicality about the registry officer's jurisdiction, which was the widely used substitute for divorce. A Chilean annulment decree from the 1990s is not evidence of anything unusual about the marriage.
Separación judicial and separación de hecho
Separación judicial is a court decree that suspends cohabitation, ends the marital property regime and leaves the marriage in existence. Separación de hecho is simply living apart, and the date it began matters because divorce requires one year of separation by mutual consent or three unilaterally.
The date of de facto separation can be fixed by a registered agreement or a court filing, and those documents are frequently what we are asked to translate rather than a decree.
Subinscripción at the margin
The Servicio de Registro Civil records the effect as a subinscripción at the margin of the marriage inscription, and a certificate issued afterwards carries it. Chilean certificates state explicitly at the foot whether subinscripciones exist.
That footer line is worth reading carefully: a certificate stating that there are none is positive evidence of the absence of any annotation, which is sometimes exactly what an office wants.
Acuerdo de Unión Civil
Since 2015 Chile has the Acuerdo de Unión Civil, a registered civil union with its own registry and its own termination. It is not a marriage and terminating it is not a separation or a divorce.
Chile has also permitted same-sex marriage since 2022, so a couple may hold an AUC converted into a marriage, with both entries in the registry. We name each instrument. See our Chilean marriage certificate page.
Ordering, and what the certification covers
Upload the document, choose certified translation at $24.95 per page of up to 250 words, and it comes back typically within 24 hours as a PDF formatted to mirror the original, with a signed certificate of translation accuracy on letterhead. Marginal annotations are translated in place, in the margin, and every seal, stamp and registry endorsement is translated with the text. See how we translate and certified versus standard.
Frequently asked questions
My Chilean divorce is from 1996.
Chile had no divorce before 2004. What you hold is almost certainly an annulment, which was the common route, and it is not evidence of anything irregular.
What is separación de hecho?
Simply living apart. The date it began matters because divorce requires one year by consent or three unilaterally.
My certificate says there are no subinscripciones.
That is positive evidence that no annotation exists, which is sometimes exactly what the office wants to see.
Is an Acuerdo de Unión Civil a marriage?
No. It is a registered civil union with its own termination, and since 2022 it can be converted into a marriage.
Ready to get started?
Upload the document and receive the certified translation, typically within 24 hours.