Family law in Colombia: what it covers, before which authority each matter is handled, and when you need a lawyer

Few branches of the law touch a person's life with the intensity of family law. What is discussed here is not contracts between strangers: it decides who the children grow up with, what happens to the house, who is responsible for feeding a child or an elderly parent, how what two people built together is divided, and how someone suffering violence inside their own home is protected. This guide is the map of that territory: what the field covers, where each matter is handled, and at what point you need a lawyer.

We have written it the way we explain it in a consultation: without unnecessary technical language, with the rule cited where it adds clarity, and with cross-references to the guides where we develop each topic in depth. Read it in full if your case is just beginning, or go straight to the table of authorities if you already know what you need to resolve.

The essentials

If you only have a minute, take away these seven ideas:

• Family law governs five broad fronts: the couple (marriage, the unión marital de hecho or de facto marital union — a Colombian statutory institution, not common-law marriage — and capitulaciones, the prenuptial property agreements), the crisis (divorce, separation, liquidation of assets), the children (custody, visitation, child support, parentage), protection against violence, and the property side (family assets, older adults and estates).
• Its foundation is not just any statute: it is the Constitution. Article 42 declares the family to be "the fundamental nucleus of society" and requires its comprehensive protection.
• Not everything is handled before a judge. Depending on the matter, the right door may be the family court judge, the comisaría de familia (the municipal family protection office), a notary's office (in Colombia notaries handle uncontested divorce), a conciliation center, or the ICBF through the Defensor de Familia (Family Defender).
• Not everything requires a lawyer. Conciliation and a protection order in cases of violence may be requested directly; divorce —even an uncontested divorce before a notary— does require a lawyer by mandate of the law.
• Many family law acts are final. A conciliation agreement has the effects of a court judgment; a signed liquidation deed is not redone because you have second thoughts later.
• Family and property always go together. Marrying or living together for two years creates, as a general rule, a community of property, even if no one signs anything.
• The best time to consult a lawyer is before making any move. An early review protects agreements, assets, children and evidence from the outset.

What family law is and why its foundation is constitutional

Family law is the body of rules governing the personal and property relations among those who make up a family: spouses and compañeros permanentes (permanent partners), parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and people who depend on the care of others. It defines how those bonds arise (marriage, unión marital, recognition of a child, adoption), what duties they generate (fidelity, mutual assistance, upbringing, support), how they change when cohabitation ends, and how the most exposed members are protected: children, adolescents, women who are victims of violence, and older adults.

The first thing worth understanding is that this field does not rest on a self-contained code, but on the Constitution itself. Article 5 provides that the State "protects the family as the basic institution of society", and article 42 defines it and sets its ground rules. That hierarchy has a practical consequence: in family matters judges do not decide with the Código Civil (Colombian Civil Code) alone in hand, but with constitutional principles requiring them to protect, to equalize and not to discriminate.

Three rules that structure almost everything you will see in this guide come from that same article 42. First: "family relations are based on the equality of rights and duties of the couple and on reciprocal respect among all its members"; the law admits no hierarchies inside the home. Second: "any form of violence in the family is considered destructive of its harmony and unity, and shall be punished in accordance with the law"; domestic violence is not a private matter, it is a matter for the State. Third: "children born within marriage or outside it, adopted or conceived naturally or with scientific assistance, have equal rights and duties"; in Colombia there are no first-class and second-class children.

On that basis, constitutional case law has recognized that the protected family is not a single model: it also includes same-sex couples, familias de crianza (de facto parental families), single-parent families and blended families. That development —which forms of family the legal system recognizes today, and with what effects— we address in a guide of its own (see the forms of family in Colombia); here it is enough to keep the central idea in mind: constitutional protection follows the reality of the bond, not the label.

The map of the field: what family law covers

Below we walk through the whole territory, topic by topic. In each one you will find the question people usually arrive at our office with, and the guide where we develop it in depth. This article is deliberately a map: it introduces each matter and points onward; it does not claim to exhaust any of them.

The couple: marriage, unión marital de hecho and capitulaciones

The typical question: "we have been together for years without getting married; does that give me any rights?".

The Código Civil defines marriage as "a solemn contract by which a man and a woman join together for the purpose of living together, procreating and assisting one another" (art. 113), a definition that constitutional case law extended to same-sex couples. It may be celebrated in civil form —before a notary or a judge— or in religious form with civil effects, because article 42 of the Constitution allows it: "religious marriages shall have civil effects on the terms established by law".

That said: in Colombia, life as a couple without marriage also produces serious legal effects. Ley 54 de 1990 gives the name unión marital de hecho to a "permanent and singular" community of life between two people over 18 years of age who are not married to each other, and it presumes that after two years of such a union there is a sociedad patrimonial: a common fund over what the two of them built. Anyone who believes that "not signing anything" leaves them free of every obligation usually discovers the opposite when the relationship ends. The requirements, how to have it declared and its effects are explained in detail in our guide to the de facto marital union (unión marital de hecho, a Colombian statutory institution; not the same as common-law marriage).

On the couple's property side there are two more pieces. The sociedad conyugal (the marital property regime), which arises without any need for an agreement: "in the absence of a written agreement, the sociedad conyugal shall be understood to have been contracted by the mere fact of the marriage" (Código Civil, art. 1774). And the capitulaciones, which are the way to agree on something different: "the agreements entered into by the spouses before contracting marriage, concerning the property they bring into it" (art. 1771). Note the key word: before. After the wedding, capitulaciones are no longer possible; that detail of timing changes entire estates.

The crisis: divorce, separation and liquidation of the sociedad conyugal

The typical question: "can I get a divorce if my spouse will not sign?".

The Constitution itself left the door clearly defined: "the civil effects of every marriage shall cease by divorce in accordance with civil law" (art. 42). In other words, divorce is not a favor one spouse grants the other: it is a legal institution with grounds and procedures. Today there are two routes: the notarial route, when there is mutual agreement, and the judicial route, when there is not. And since Ley 2442 de 2024 the answer to the typical question is yes: the sole will of either spouse is a ground for divorce, so that no one remains tied to a marriage they have already decided to end.

It is worth distinguishing three institutions that people tend to merge into one: separación de cuerpos or legal separation (life in common is suspended, the bond remains), divorce (the bond of a civil marriage is dissolved, or the civil effects of a religious marriage cease) and liquidation of the sociedad conyugal (the common property is divided). Getting divorced does not divide the assets on its own: the liquidation is a step of its own, before a notary if there is agreement or before a judge if there is not. The types of divorce, the grounds, the timelines and their financial effects are developed in the guide to divorce in Colombia.

The children: custody, visitation, child support and parentage

The typical question: "we are separating; who do the children stay with and who is responsible for their expenses?".

When a couple breaks up, each parent's relationship with their children does not break: it is reorganized. Three decisions structure that reorganization: custody and personal care (who the child lives with), the visitation arrangements (how the child keeps the bond with the other parent) and child support (how much each parent contributes to the child's upkeep). The compass for all three is the same: the best interests of the child, because article 44 of the Constitution lists among their fundamental rights "having a family and not being separated from it, care and love", and requires that their rights prevail over those of everyone else.

Support deserves a clarification that surprises many people: it is not only for minor children. The Código Civil imposes the obligation in both directions within the family.

On child support we have two separate guides, because they are two different problems: how to have it set and claim it properly (see claiming child support) and what consequences await anyone who stops paying it, ranging from enforcement proceedings with attachment of assets to criminal prosecution for inasistencia alimentaria, the offense of failing to pay court-ordered support (see failure to pay child support).

This territory also includes parentage: the voluntary acknowledgment of a child, the action to establish paternity when the father does not acknowledge the child, and the action to contest it when the man on record as the father is not. These are proceedings involving DNA evidence, with effects on surnames, support and inheritance, assigned to the family court judge by the Código General del Proceso, Colombia's General Procedural Code (art. 22).

Violence in the family context

The typical question: "what do I do today to keep this person from coming near me again?".

Colombian law understands violence in the family context broadly: physical, sexual, psychological, property-related or economic, among members of the family unit even if they do not live under the same roof, including former spouses and former partners, and couples with an expectation of stability even if they do not live together (Ley 2126 de 2021, art. 5). Since judgment C-029 de 2009, those protections cover same-sex couples equally. The central tool is the protection order under Ley 294 de 1996 —removal of the aggressor from the home, a ban on approaching the victim, among others—, which is requested without the need for a lawyer and must be processed urgently.

We deliberately do not set out the route here —where to go depending on the time of day and the municipality, what to say, what evidence to bring, what happens if the order is breached—, because it calls for the detail we devote to two guides: the one on protection against domestic violence, focused on the protection order, and the complete route in the family protection pathways. If this is your situation, go straight to them; if there is immediate danger, call the 123 emergency line first.

Older adults, disability and estates

The typical question: "my father has died; what do we do with the house and the bank accounts?".

The full cycle of the family also passes through its final stretch. Three matters account for most of the questions we receive. First, the protection of older people: ascendants have a right to support (Código Civil, art. 411), and mistreatment or abandonment of an older adult within the family triggers the same protection orders as domestic violence. Second, assistance for persons with disabilities, which since Ley 1996 de 2019 stopped being "interdicción" (legal incapacitation) and became a system of supports for decision-making. Third, estates: when someone dies, their property is not distributed on its own; the succession has to be processed, before a notary if all the heirs have legal capacity and are in agreement, or before a judge where there is a dispute, minor heirs without an approved agreement, or arguments about wills and legítimas (the shares the law reserves for close relatives).

An estate handled badly turns grief into litigation between siblings, and the mistakes —undeclared assets, omitted heirs, rushed distributions— cost years. That is why the topic has a guide of its own: the importance of a lawyer in succession proceedings.

The family's assets

The typical question: "how do I protect the house where my children live?".

The last territory cuts across all the others: the property regime. It includes the sociedad conyugal and the sociedad patrimonial (the common funds of married couples and of compañeros permanentes), the capitulaciones, and two devices for shielding the home that the Constitution itself announces when it says that "the law may determine which family assets are inalienable and exempt from attachment" (art. 42): the patrimonio de familia (a home registered as exempt from attachment) and the afectación a vivienda familiar under Ley 258 de 1996 (a registered restriction on the family home), which protects "real property acquired in its entirety by one or both spouses (…) intended as the family's dwelling" by requiring both signatures in order to sell or mortgage it.

Deciding which of these tools is appropriate —and when to set them up or lift them— is family wealth planning, not an isolated formality. We develop that analysis in the guide to when to organize your estate and, for more complex structures, on the page for our service in a lawyer specializing in property and estate law.

Where each matter is handled: the institutional map

Much of the distress in family matters comes from not knowing which door to knock on. In Colombia there are five main doors, and each one serves different purposes. Knocking on them in the wrong order costs weeks and, sometimes, rights.

The family court judge

This is the final authority in the field: the judge decides what no one else can decide and reviews what other authorities decide. The Código General del Proceso assigns to this judge, among other matters, custody and visitation, the setting and review of support, divorce —uncontested or contested—, annulment of marriage, actions to establish and to contest paternity, the liquidation of sociedades conyugales and patrimoniales, and permission for a child to leave the country when the parents cannot agree (arts. 21 and 22). Where there is no family court judge, those functions are performed by the juez promiscuo (a judge with mixed jurisdiction) or by the municipal civil court judge.

Two features of family court procedure are worth knowing. First, many of these matters go through the proceso verbal sumario, the summary oral procedure designed to be quick: a support claim, for example, "may also be filed orally before the clerk" of the court (CGP, arts. 390 and 391). Second, in almost every family dispute the judge is not the first stop: the law requires an attempt at conciliation first, as we will see next.

The comisaría de familia

This is the emergency door for violence in the family context. It is not a court, but neither is it an office that merely gives advice: it has real decision-making power.

In practice, the comisaría issues interim and final protection orders —ordering the aggressor to refrain from the conduct, removing them from the home, barring them from approaching the victim—, adopts care and stabilization measures for the victim and, in municipalities where there is no Defensor de Familia, also takes on the restoration of the rights of children and adolescents (Ley 2126, arts. 5, 16 and 17). Its team is interdisciplinary: a lawyer, a psychologist and a social worker, because the law understands that domestic violence is not resolved by court orders alone.

What the comisaría does not do also matters: it does not grant divorces, it does not liquidate sociedades conyugales and it does not declare uniones maritales; on those fronts it can, at most, serve as a venue for conciliation in the municipalities where it exercises subsidiary powers. If your matter is one of those, the door is a different one.

The notary's office

This is the door of agreement: almost everything a family settles by mutual agreement can be formalized before a notary, generally faster than before a judge. A civil marriage is celebrated before a notary (it may also be celebrated before a municipal civil court judge); capitulaciones are granted there; the unión marital de hecho is declared there by mutual agreement; the sociedad conyugal and the sociedad patrimonial are liquidated there by mutual agreement; an estate is settled there when the heirs have legal capacity and are in agreement (Decreto 902 de 1988); and spouses who have already agreed on all the terms of their separation get divorced there.

Note the detail that many people overlook: notarial divorce, the simplest of them all, requires acting "through a lawyer". This is not a whim: the divorce deed usually settles custody, child support, visitation and the fate of the assets in a few pages, and whatever is badly agreed there stays with the parties for years.

Conciliation centers and the other conciliators

In family matters the law prefers agreement to litigation, and it says so through a specific device: the requisito de procedibilidad, a mandatory step before filing. Before bringing a claim for custody, visitation, support, declaration or liquidation of a unión marital, separation of property or disputes over capitulaciones, you must attempt an out-of-court conciliation; without that record or certificate —of agreement, of no agreement, or of non-appearance—, the judge will refuse to admit the claim, subject to the specific exceptions the law itself provides.

Conciliation has two sides that you should know before sitting down at the table. It is the fastest and least draining way to close a family dispute; and at the same time it is a serious act: the conciliated agreement is "binding and final" and is directly enforceable, that is, it carries the same weight as a court judgment. You do not come to a conciliation hearing "to see what happens": you come with the figures worked out and clear limits. How to prepare —what to bring, what to ask for, what not to accept— we explain in the guide to the conciliation hearing.

The ICBF: the Family Defender's office

The Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF, the national family welfare agency) acts in this field through the defensores de familia, whose mission is the protection of children and adolescents. The division of work with the comisarías was defined by Ley 2126 de 2021: the Defensor de Familia handles threats to and violations of children's rights outside the context of family violence and, in every case, sexual violence; the comisario handles those that occur within the context of family violence (art. 5, paragraph 1). The Defensor de Familia also conciliates custody, visitation and child support, represents children in court proceedings, and issues an opinion in notarial divorces where there are minor children.

The map closes with an authority that is not a family authority but appears when the conflict escalates: the Fiscalía General de la Nación (Colombia's prosecution service), because domestic violence and failure to pay support are criminal offenses. The criminal complaint runs in parallel with the protection order and the support proceeding, not in place of them; that crossing of routes is explained in the protection and support guides already cited.

The master table: matter, authority, lawyer and guide

This table condenses the complete map. Read it as general guidance: the exact row for your case may vary depending on the municipality, the amount at stake and the urgency.

An honest clarification about the "does it require a lawyer?" column: that a procedure does not require one means you can validly start it without an attorney, not that it is wise to go through it alone when property, children or violence are involved. The difference between those two things is precisely the subject of the next two sections.

Which matters require a lawyer and which ones you can start yourself

Family law is one of the few branches where the law has opened several doors of direct access, designed so that a lack of resources does not leave anyone unprotected. You can act on your own, without an attorney, on at least four fronts: the request for a protection order for violence in the family context before the comisaría; out-of-court conciliation —the law defines it as a mechanism in which people "manage the resolution of their differences themselves" with the conciliator's help—; the support claim through the proceso verbal sumario, which even allows oral filing before the clerk of the court; and requests to the Defensor de Familia to protect a child.

At the other end, there are steps where a lawyer is not optional. Divorce before a notary requires by law acting "through a lawyer", and the same applies to a notarial estate settlement, whose petition is filed through an attorney. In declaratory court proceedings —contested divorce, declaration of a unión marital, paternity actions, disputed liquidations, contested estates—, the general rule in the practice of law is representation by a lawyer, subject to the specific exceptions the law itself sets out.

Between the two extremes lies the zone where people go wrong most often: matters you can start on your own, but which define long-term rights. Conciliating a child support amount, agreeing on visitation arrangements, signing the liquidation of the couple's joint property. In all of them the State guarantees you the door; it does not guarantee that you walk in well prepared. The other side that arrives with counsel and the party that arrives "to hear proposals" rarely leave the same hearing on equal terms.

When to call the lawyer before making any move

If we have learned anything in years of practice it is this: in family matters, cases are not ruined at the hearing; they are ruined in the weeks before, when everyone acts on instinct. Clarify your route before moving the case forward: an early review protects agreements, assets, children and evidence from the outset. The reason is a feature peculiar to this field: here, early decisions tend to be final.

These are the signs that you should consult a lawyer before signing, proposing or answering anything:

• You are summoned to a conciliation over support, custody or liquidation. Whatever is conciliated becomes final; the figures are worked out beforehand, not at the table.
• You are asked to sign a deed of liquidation, of capitulaciones or of divorce. A public deed once granted is not undone because one party has second thoughts.
• You are about to marry or about to complete two years of living together and you have assets or a business. Capitulaciones exist only before the marriage, and the sociedad patrimonial is presumed after two years of union.
• You have received a lawsuit or a divorce proposal. The deadlines to respond are short, and whatever is not answered in time is, in practice, treated as conceded.
• You are thinking of leaving the house, moving assets out or keeping the children as a form of pressure. Each of those moves has a legal reading, and it is usually the opposite of the one you imagine.
• There is violence. Here the order is reversed: protection first —the comisaría de familia, the 123 emergency line— and afterwards, calmly, the substantive legal strategy.

Consulting early does not mean suing early. Most of the time the initial professional advice is to put the paperwork in order, secure the evidence, attempt a well-structured agreement and only then, if it is still necessary, litigate. But that sequence can only be built while the options remain open.

Family and property: two lanes that always cross

It is worth closing the map with an idea that runs through all the previous territories: in Colombia, decisions of the heart are also property decisions, whether you sign anything or not. Marrying without capitulaciones creates a sociedad conyugal by the mere fact of the marriage. Living together for two years in a unión marital gives rise to the presumption of a sociedad patrimonial. Divorcing or separating requires, sooner or later, a liquidation. Dying without a will triggers the rules of intestate succession. And protecting the children's home has tools of its own —afectación a vivienda familiar, patrimonio de familia— that only work if they are set up in time.

That is why we recommend looking at family assets the way you look at a partnership agreement: with an inventory, clear rules and an exit plan. That exercise —what suits you depending on your stage: single with assets, a couple starting out, a family with children, an older adult who wants to organize their estate during their lifetime— is developed in the guide to when to organize your estate; and when the case involves companies, multiple properties or more refined protection structures, it is work for our team in a lawyer specializing in property and estate law.

What NOT to do in a family dispute

• Do not sign records or deeds "just to get it over with". In this field, what is signed stands; the discomfort of asking for time to review is minimal compared with the cost of a bad agreement.
• Do not stop paying support as a means of pressure. The support payment does not depend on visitation or on the couple's disputes, and failing to pay it brings attachments, a listing as a debtor and even criminal proceedings.
• Do not block visitation as retaliation. The visitation arrangements protect the child's right, not the other parent's; obstructing them backfires on whoever does it.
• Do not hide or transfer assets when a separation is coming. Movements of assets made before the liquidation are traced and can be undone by a court.
• Do not use the children as messengers or as witnesses. Beyond the emotional damage, judges and comisarios de familia take a very dim view of that conduct.
• Do not wait years to have the unión marital declared or to liquidate the couple's joint property. The passage of time erases evidence and can compromise rights; the deadlines in this area are less generous than people believe.
• Do not build your case on screenshots and other people's advice. Messages can be useful evidence, but if they are badly obtained or badly presented they are worth little; and your neighbor's case is never yours.

Common myths

"Whoever leaves the house loses everything." False. Leaving the home —all the more so where there is violence— does not make you lose your rights in the sociedad conyugal or your relationship with your children; what is advisable is to document the situation and get advice on the effects of a de facto separation.

"Since we are not married, they owe me nothing." False. After two years of unión marital de hecho a sociedad patrimonial is presumed over what the two of you built together, and the compañero permanente also has rights in health coverage, pension and inheritance.

"The house is in my name, so it is mine alone." Not necessarily. If it was acquired during the sociedad conyugal or the sociedad patrimonial, it belongs to the common fund even if the deed carries a single name; and if it is subject to afectación a vivienda familiar, it cannot be sold without both signatures.

"The comisaría de familia can grant me a divorce." No. The comisaría protects against violence and can conciliate certain matters; divorce goes only through a notary's office —with agreement and a lawyer— or through the family court judge.

"A mutual-agreement divorce does not require a lawyer." False. The law expressly requires that a divorce before a notary be processed "through a lawyer"; what changes compared with a court divorce is the speed, not that requirement.

"Support is only for minor children." Incomplete. It may also be owed to the spouse, to adult children who are studying under the conditions set by case law, and to parents and grandparents: ascendants are on the list in article 411 of the Código Civil.

"Capitulaciones mean distrust, or they are only for the rich." Neither one nor the other. They are an honest conversation about property before marrying, useful above all for anyone who comes to the marriage with a business, debts or children from an earlier relationship. One caveat: they can only be agreed before the wedding.

Checklist: prepare for your family law consultation

A first consultation is worth twice as much when you arrive organized. Before speaking with the lawyer, gather whatever applies to your case:

• Civil registry records: of your marriage, of the children's birth and, in estate matters, of death.
• Deeds and land registry certificates (certificados de tradición) for the real property, and details of both parties' vehicles, accounts and companies.
• Capitulaciones, conciliation records, judgments or earlier deeds, if there are any.
• Proof of your income and of the other party's: pay slips, tax returns, bank statements.
• Proof of payments or expenses for the children: support payments, health care, schooling, transfers.
• If there is violence: criminal complaints, earlier protection orders, medical records, messages and the names of witnesses.
• A one-page timeline: the dates when cohabitation began, the marriage, separations, key events.
• Your three main questions in writing, so that none of them goes unanswered.
• Clarity about what you want to achieve and what you are willing to give up: without that bearing, no advice is complete.

The Cafore view

Family law decides matters that no case file fully reflects: a child's peace of mind, a victim's safety, a parent's dignified old age, the fruit of two people's work. The way we practice it starts from three convictions: first, that the map matters —a good part of the avoidable suffering in this field comes from knocking on the wrong door or from signing before understanding—; second, that a well-built agreement is almost always better than litigation, but only when it is negotiated with information and not out of fear; and third, that these cases call for the composure of someone who understands that, when the dispute is over, those people will still be family.

This guide is informational and general: it does not replace advice on your specific situation, because in family matters the details —dates, evidence, municipality, assets— change the answers. If you would like to review your case with a team that will treat it with judgment and without unrealistic promises, at Cafore Abogados we will guide you clearly. You can write to us or call 313 8411825.

Why family law matters

It is worth saying it plainly: family law matters because it governs what hurts most to lose. It does not deal with abstract figures, but with who the children live with, what someone with no income lives on, what happens to the house when a couple breaks up and who answers when a member of the family is at risk. These are decisions taken at the worst emotional moment which, even so, produce effects that last for years.

That is why it matters to understand the route before making a move. Most of the harm we see does not come from the law, but from agreements made by word of mouth that no one can later prove, from deadlines allowed to run out, or from filings made before the wrong authority. Knowing what is decided before a judge, what before a notary's office, what before a comisaría de familia and what can be conciliated is what turns a family problem into a manageable matter.

Laws and case law cited

• Constitución Política, arts. 5, 42 and 44 — the family as the "basic institution" and "fundamental nucleus of society"; equality in family relations; punishment of every form of violence; marriage, separation and divorce governed by civil law; the fundamental rights of children. Source
• Código Civil, arts. 113, 154, 411, 1771 and 1774 — the definition of marriage; the grounds for divorce; who is entitled to support; capitulaciones matrimoniales; sociedad conyugal by the fact of the marriage. Source
• Ley 54 de 1990, arts. 1 and 2 (as amended by Ley 979 de 2005 and Ley 2447 de 2025) — unión marital de hecho and the presumption of a sociedad patrimonial after two years. Source
• Ley 258 de 1996 (as amended by Ley 854 de 2003) — afectación a vivienda familiar. Source
• Law 294 of 1996 (as amended by Leyes 575 de 2000, 1257 de 2008 and 2126 de 2021) — protection orders against domestic violence. Source
• Ley 962 de 2005, art. 34 — divorce before a notary, by mutual agreement and through a lawyer; regulated by Decreto 4436 de 2005. Source
• Ley 1098 de 2006 (Código de la Infancia y la Adolescencia, the Children and Adolescents Code) — the best interests of the child, the defensorías de familia and support obligations toward children and adolescents. Source
• Ley 1564 de 2012 (Código General del Proceso), arts. 17, 21, 22, 390 and 391 — the powers of the family court judge and of the municipal civil court judges; the proceso verbal sumario and the claim filed orally. Source
• Ley 1996 de 2019 — the system of supports for the exercise of legal capacity by persons with disabilities, replacing interdicción. Source
• Ley 2126 de 2021, arts. 2, 3, 5, 16 and 17 — the nature, mission and powers of the comisarías de familia; the division of work with the defensorías; protection orders. Source
• Ley 2220 de 2022 (Estatuto de Conciliación, Colombia's conciliation statute), arts. 3, 12, 64 and 69 to 71 — the definition and effects of conciliation; the record's direct enforceability and force of res judicata; who may conciliate in family matters; the requisito de procedibilidad. Source
• Law 2442 of 2024 — divorce on the sole will of either spouse (ground 10 of art. 154 of the Código Civil). Source
• Decreto 902 de 1988 — the settlement of estates and the liquidation of sociedades conyugales before a notary where there is agreement among all parties.
• Corte Constitucional, Sentencia C-029 de 2009 — extended to same-sex couples, among others, the protection orders against domestic violence (art. 2, Ley 294 de 1996). Source
• Constitutional Court, Judgment C-075 of 2007 — the unión marital de hecho regime also applies to same-sex couples. Source