De facto unions, marriage, and civil status in Ecuador: legal certainty and gender stigma after relationship breakdown

Abstract

This article examines the registry asymmetry that arises in Ecuador when a registered de facto union ends and when a marriage is dissolved by divorce. Its objective is to determine whether restoring the previous civil status of persons who terminate a de facto union, as opposed to retaining the status of divorced, is consistent with legal certainty, equality, and protection against discrimination. A qualitative, documentary, and socio-legal methodology was applied through the analysis of the Constitution, the Civil Code, registry and notarial legislation, constitutional case law, and scientific literature on stigma and gender. The findings show that a registered de facto union constitutes an autonomous civil status and is not legally equivalent to marriage; its termination restores the prior status without, by itself, extinguishing outstanding property obligations. Divorce, by contrast, preserves an explicit registry trace that may be legitimate for legal purposes but disproportionate in ordinary procedures and potentially stigmatizing for women. The article concludes that Ecuador should adopt a layered registry model combining generally accessible information on current relational status, restricted access to civil-history records, and specialized property alerts.