In Chile you can end a marriage in the following ways:

The cessation of cohabitation

This is when the spouses do not live together any longer. In this case, the divorce can be requested by just one of the partners or by both together.

Agreement between the parties.

When both spouses file for divorce by mutual agreement (also known as “Divorcio de Comun Acuerdo), the partners need to have been separated for at least for a year, a situation that needs to be proven in a simplified trial.

If the marriage was celebrated after the new Civil Marriage Law in Chile (2004), the cessation of coexistence must be proven with the limitations indicated in the aforementioned law, which do not apply to marriages celebrated prior to it. The parties must accompany their request with an agreement that regulates their mutual relationship, including and with respect to their children and property.

When only one partner files for divorce

In Chile, when only one spouse files for divorce (without the collaboration of the other), at least three years must have passed since the end of cohabitation as a couple, which must be proven via a trial as well. If the marriage happened after the new Chilean Civil Marriage Law was passed the cessation of coexistence must be proven with the limitations indicated in the aforementioned law, which do not apply to marriages celebrated prior to it. Related to the mutual relations of the spouses, children and property, it is regulated via a trial. In these cases, the judge can deny the divorce if the spouse who asks for it did not fulfill his marital obligations upon the cessation of the cohabitation.

Ways to prove cessation of cohabitation

Marriages celebrated after November 17, 2004, can prove the cessation of coexistence in the following ways:

• – Public deed protocolized before a public notary where the term of the coexistence is recorded.

• – Extended act before the Official of the Civil Registry in which the same record is left.

• – Copy of a judicially approved transaction, for example, in which the parties regulate the payment of alimony for the benefit of one of the spouses or the children.

Behaviors that seriously infringe the proper duties and obligations of marriage, or the duties and obligations related to the children that make life in common intolerable.

For example:

• – Serious physical or psychological abuse against the spouse or children.

• – Attempt against the life of the spouse or children.

• – Serious and repeated breach of the duties of coexistence, relief and fidelity. For example, the repeated abandonment of the common home.

• – Alcoholism or drug addiction that seriously prevents a harmonious coexistence between the spouses or between these and the children.

In this case, the divorce can be requested by the affected spouse without having to wait any time.