Legal routes for protecting the family in Colombia: how to activate them

When a family is under threat —violence within the home, a minor at risk, support that never arrives, a home about to be lost— the urgent question is not theoretical but practical: whom do I turn to, with which mechanism, and what can I achieve? This guide does not describe what family law is in the abstract, nor does it catalog the types of family; it concentrates on the legal routes of protection: the tools that the Colombian legal system places at your disposal to safeguard the family and, above all, its most vulnerable members, and how to activate them in good time.

The protection of the family is not a favor or a political promise: it is a mandate of the Constitución that the legislature has developed in specific statutes, with specific authorities and with procedures that anyone can set in motion. Comisarías de familia, family court judges, the ICBF's Family Defenders, notarías and registry offices make up a protection network that works better when you know which door to knock on. If you are looking for the general overview of this branch of the law, you will find it in the the importance of family law; and if you want to understand which forms of family the law recognizes today, that angle is developed in the forms of family in Colombia.

Here we order the routes by type of risk: domestic violence and its protection measures; support and the routes for enforcing it; custody and the best interests of the child; the restoration of rights before the ICBF; and the protection of the family's assets and home. Each topic explains what it is, the rule with its exact article, a concrete example, what it achieves and the mistake worth avoiding. The intention is that you should act with judgment, not out of fear.

The essentials

• The right authority saves time. The Comisaría de Familia is not the same as the family court judge, the Family Defender or the Fiscalía; each risk has its own door.
• Prevention is protection too. Placing the home under the afectación a vivienda familiar or constituting an unattachable patrimonio de familia protects before the conflict arrives.
• Acting early preserves evidence and rights. In matters of violence and of support, the deadlines and the evidence matter from day one.

The constitutional mandate to protect the family

Every route of protection has the same root: the Constitución de 1991 raised the family to the status of an institution the State must protect. Article 5 recognizes, without any discrimination, the primacy of the inalienable rights of the person and protects the family as the basic institution of society. Article 42 makes this precise: the family is the fundamental nucleus of society, and the State and society guarantee its comprehensive protection. That same article declares the honor, dignity and privacy of the family inviolable, and requires that any form of violence within it be regarded as destructive of its harmony and unity and be punished in accordance with the law.

Very concrete duties are born of that clause. Article 42 announces that the law may establish an inalienable and unattachable patrimonio de familia —the basis of the afectación a vivienda familiar and patrimonio de familia mechanisms we will see further on—. Article 43 proclaims that women and men have equal rights and opportunities, provides for special protection during pregnancy and after childbirth, and adds that the State will give special support to the mujer cabeza de familia. And article 44 shields children: it sets out as fundamental rights their life, physical integrity, health, social security, balanced nutrition, and the right to have a family and not to be separated from it, and it requires that they be protected against every form of abandonment and physical or moral violence.

An example. Suppose that you fear for your children's safety and for the stability of the home after a conflictive separation. Although your distress is personal, your tools are not improvised: they descend directly from these articles. The Constitución is not invoked on its own before a judge to resolve the everyday case, but it does guide the interpretation of every rule you activate, and it reminds you that the protection of your family is an enforceable right, not a concession.

The common mistake is to think that these principles are rhetoric. They are not: each one was translated into operative statutes —Ley 294 de 1996, Ley 1098 de 2006, Ley 258 de 1996— that you can set in motion before specific authorities. Behind every route there is a constitutional mandate backing it.

Domestic violence: the route of protection measures

Violence within the home is the threat that demands the fastest response, and for it the legal system designed a swift route with a low emotional cost: the protection measure. Ley 294 de 1996 —which develops article 42 of the Constitución— provides that any person who, within their family setting, is the victim of physical or psychological harm or harm to their sexual integrity, of a threat, an affront, an insult or any other form of aggression by another member of the family group, may request, without prejudice to any criminal complaints that may be in order, an immediate protection measure that puts an end to the violence. The request is filed with the comisario de familia of the place where the events occurred and, failing that, with the juez civil municipal or juez promiscuo municipal (article 4).

What it is and how it is triggered. You do not need a lawyer to file the request, nor any complicated formalities. Article 9 allows the request to be made by the victim, by anyone acting on their behalf or by the Family Defender, in writing, orally or by any suitable means, and requires it to be filed no later than within the thirty days following the events. Once the request is received, if it is supported by at least slight indications, the comisario or the judge may issue, within the following four business hours, provisional protection measures to prevent the aggression from continuing (article 11). No appeal whatsoever is available against that provisional measure: safety takes priority. A hearing is then convened, to be held between five and ten days later (article 12).

What the authority may order. The catalog of measures in article 5 is broad and practical. The authority may order the aggressor's removal from the house shared with the victim where their presence threatens the life, integrity or health of any member of the family (subparagraph a); order them to refrain from approaching the victim or the places where the victim may be (subparagraph b); prohibit them from hiding or moving the children or the persons with disabilities of the household (subparagraph c); require them to undergo re-educational and therapeutic treatment (subparagraph d); provisionally decide the visitation arrangements, guardianship and custody (subparagraph h) and who is to bear the support payments (subparagraph j); determine the use of the family home (subparagraph k); and even prohibit them from transferring or encumbering assets subject to registration where a sociedad conyugal (the marital property regime) or a sociedad patrimonial is in force (subparagraph l).

An example. Suppose that you live with your partner in an apartment registered in his name and that the acts of aggression have become frequent. You do not have to leave your home or wait for a lengthy proceeding: you can go to the Comisaría de Familia, relate the events and request the removal of the aggressor and a ban on his approaching you. The fact that the property is in his name does not give him the right to stay if his presence is a threat; the law protects the victim, not the title to the property. A copy of the measure is sent to the Policía Nacional for enforcement.

What is achieved if the aggressor breaches it. The measure is not a symbolic piece of paper. Article 7 provides that a first breach carries a fine of between two and ten monthly statutory minimum wages, convertible into detention; and if it is repeated within the following two years, detention of between thirty and forty-five days. Ley 294 itself further orders that all cases be referred to the Fiscalía General de la Nación (Prosecutor's Office), because domestic violence is also an autonomous offense (Código Penal, art. 229), as is inasistencia alimentaria, the offense of failing to pay legally owed support (art. 233). The administrative protection route and the criminal route are not mutually exclusive: they run in parallel.

Since 2021, the architecture of this route has been reinforced by Ley 2126, which regulated the comisarías de familia (family commissioner's offices). Its article 3 defines the Comisaría as an administrative and interdisciplinary body at the municipal or district level, with both administrative and judicial powers; and its article 5 expressly extended its jurisdiction to all violence in the family context —physical, sexual, psychological, property-related or economic—, even where the members do not live under the same roof, and even between spouses or partners who have already separated or divorced and between couples with an expectation of stability. The comisario may also provisionally determine custody, child support and visitation where there is violence (article 13). We cover this angle in detail in protection against domestic violence.

The common mistake is to think that "it was not that serious" or that reporting breaks up the family. The law starts from the opposite premise: Ley 2126 warns that preserving the integrity of the family cannot serve as an argument to justify a situation of risk. Asking for protection is not an attack on anyone; it is putting a stop to one.

Support: a protected right and how to make it enforceable

Support is perhaps the family-law right most often claimed and most often breached. That is why the legal system surrounded it with several routes of enforcement. Understanding what it is helps you claim it properly: the Código Civil (art. 411) lists who is owed support —among others, the spouse, descendants, ascendants and adopted children— and divides it into congruos and necesarios —proportionate support and bare-subsistence support— (art. 413). For children and adolescents, Ley 1098 de 2006 (art. 24) specifies that support covers everything indispensable for their upkeep, housing, clothing, health, education and recreation. Two rules of the Código Civil are always worth bearing in mind: support is assessed according to the debtor's means and domestic circumstances (art. 419), and it is owed from the first claim, payable in monthly installments in advance (art. 421).

First route: having the amount set. Before litigating, it is worth attempting an agreement. Ley 1098 (art. 111) provides that the Defensor de Familia (Family Defender) or the comisario de familia may convene a conciliation hearing to set the amount; if the obligor fails to appear despite having been summoned, a report is drawn up that takes the place of the lawsuit and is sent to the family court judge so that proceedings may begin. Conciliation is not a mere formality: the conciliation record setting the amount is an instrument with legal force. This mechanism, and its advantages, are developed in the conciliation hearing.

Second route: the proceeding and the provisional amount. If there is no agreement, the family court judge sets the amount. A crucial point for whoever is claiming: on admitting the lawsuit, the judge sets a provisional support amount whenever there is proof of the relationship, and if there is no proof of the paying party's means, the judge sets it taking into account their assets and circumstances, presuming that they earn at least the minimum wage (Ley 1098, art. 129). In other words: the absence of the debtor's payslips does not block the child's protection.

Third route: enforcement proceedings. Where an amount has already been set —in a judgment or in a conciliation record— and it is not paid, that document is an enforceable instrument. With it, compulsory collection proceeds: attachment of assets and withholding of part of the debtor's wages. At this point the breach ceases to be a verbal complaint and becomes a judicial order to pay.

Fourth route: the REDAM. Ley 2097 de 2021 created the Registro de Deudores Alimentarios Morosos (REDAM, the register of delinquent support debtors) as a mechanism to control non-payment. It applies to anyone in arrears on three or more support installments, consecutive or not, set in a judgment, a conciliation or any enforceable instrument (art. 2). Being listed has real consequences (art. 6): the debtor may not contract with the State or be sworn into public or elected office until fully up to date; the notaría (notary's office) requires the certificate from the register in order to transfer assets subject to registration; banks require it in order to grant credit; and a bar is imposed on leaving the country and on immigration procedures. The entry is canceled once the debt is paid.

An example. Suppose that your daughter's father stopped paying the amount that was set four months ago and tells you he "has nothing to pay with". You are not without tools: you can start enforcement proceedings with the conciliation record, request attachment or withholding of his wages, and ask for his entry in the REDAM. The fifth route, where the breach is unjustified, is the criminal one for inasistencia alimentaria (Código Penal, art. 233). We expand on how to claim the support amount in failure to pay child support and claiming child support.

The common mistake is to wait months "to see whether he pays" before acting. Because support is owed from the first claim, every month of delay is a month of the child's entitlement that becomes harder to recover. Document the defaults and activate the appropriate route without delay.

Custody, personal care and the best interests of the child

When parents separate, the question of the children is the most delicate one. The law resolves it with a single compass: the best interests of the child. Ley 1098 de 2006 defines it as the imperative that requires everyone to guarantee the full and simultaneous satisfaction of all the child's rights (art. 8), and it requires that in any decision —administrative or judicial— the child's rights prevail, especially where they conflict with those of another person (art. 9). This precedence is not ornamental: it is the rule that decides ties.

What custody and personal care are. Article 23 of Ley 1098 provides that children have the right to have their parents assume their custody directly and promptly, on a permanent and joint basis, for their full development, and it extends the duty of care to those who live with them. Custody may be exercised by one of the parents or be shared, and the visitation arrangements govern the time of contact with the parent who does not live with the child. Everything may be agreed in conciliation or, failing agreement, determined by the family court judge. Where violence is involved, the comisario de familia may provisionally set custody and visitation (Ley 2126 de 2021, art. 13).

An example. Suppose that you and the other parent cannot agree on whom the children will live with. The right question is not "which of the two has more right", but "which arrangement better protects the children's full development". That shift in perspective is the one the authority applies: it weighs the emotional bond, stability, proximity to school, the record of caregiving and, where they exist, the acts of violence. A reasonable agreement between the parents is almost always better for the child than a decision imposed after lengthy litigation.

What it achieves and what it protects. Determining custody and visitation is not about "beating" the other parent: it is about giving the child a predictable and enforceable structure. A decision on visitation, for example, makes it possible to demand compliance if the other parent obstructs it. And because circumstances change, the arrangement may be modified where the child's best interests so advise. It is also worth recalling that a child's departure from the country requires, as a rule, the authorization of both parents (Ley 1098, art. 110), a safeguard against unilateral relocation.

The common mistake is to use the children as a means of pressure in the couple's conflict —denying visitation to force financial agreements, or withholding the child—. Besides harming the child, such conduct turns against whoever engages in it: the authority weighs it, and it may affect custody itself.

Restoration of rights: when the ICBF steps in

There are situations in which the risk falls on a child and the family cannot —or will not— protect them. For those cases there is a specific administrative route: the proceeding for the restoration of rights, entrusted to the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF, Colombia's family welfare institute) through its Family Defenders, and to the comisarías de familia. Ley 1098 de 2006 (art. 50) defines restoration as the restoring of the child's dignity and integrity as a subject of rights and of their capacity to exercise them.

How it is triggered. Article 51 imposes on all authorities the duty to report, notify or bring before the police, the Family Defenders, the comisarios de familia or, failing them, the police inspectors or the personerías (the municipal ombudsman's offices), any child who is at risk or vulnerable. Anyone may bring the case to their attention. Once triggered, the authority must immediately verify the state of compliance with the child's rights —health, nutrition, civil registration, family environment, enrollment in health care and education— (art. 52), and on the basis of that assessment it determines the measures.

What measures it may adopt. Article 53 offers a graduated range: admonition of those responsible for the child's care; immediate removal of the child from the activity that threatens or violates their rights and placement in a specialized program; placement in a family setting; placement in emergency centers where a temporary foster home (hogar de paso) is not available; and, as a protection measure of last resort, adoption. All of them seek the same end: that the child cease to be exposed and recover a protective environment, with support for the family wherever possible.

An example. Suppose that you notice that a nephew is living in conditions of neglect or mistreatment. You do not have to "prove it" before coming forward: it is enough to bring the case to the attention of the Family Defender or the Comisaría de Familia, which are required to verify the situation. In municipalities where there is no Family Defender, the comisario takes on that subsidiary jurisdiction (Ley 1098, art. 98). The process protects the child without requiring the citizen to resolve matters on their own.

The common mistake is to keep quiet for fear of "meddling in other people's business". The law makes that silence the exception: the protection of children is a shared responsibility of the family, society and the State, and reporting in good time can be decisive.

Protecting the family's assets and home

Not every threat to a family is a conflict between people; sometimes the risk is financial: a debt, an attachment, a hurried sale that leaves the household without a roof. To shield essential assets, the legal system offers two mechanisms worth knowing and, above all, setting up in good time.

The afectación a vivienda familiar, the family-home designation (Ley 258 de 1996). It turns the property used as the family's dwelling into a specially protected asset. Its best-known effect is the double signature: the affected property may be transferred or encumbered only with the free consent of both spouses, expressed by their signature (art. 3). It is also exempt from attachment, unless there is a mortgage predating the registration of the afectación or the mortgage was granted in order to acquire, build or improve the dwelling (art. 7). For properties acquired after the law came into force, the afectación operates by operation of law (art. 2), and its effects extend to permanent partners whose union has lasted at least two years (art. 12).

The patrimonio de familia inembargable, the unattachable family homestead (Ley 70 de 1931). It is an older mechanism, but one still in force. It authorizes the creation, in favor of a family, of a special estate with the quality of not being subject to attachment (art. 1). It bears on full ownership of a property that is not held in common with another person, that is not encumbered with a mortgage, censo or antichresis, and whose value at the time of constitution does not exceed two hundred and fifty current monthly minimum wages (art. 3, as amended by Ley 495 de 1999). Its regime is severe toward creditors: the patrimonio de familia is not subject to attachment, not even where the beneficiary becomes bankrupt, and any consent the beneficiary may give to an attachment has no effect whatsoever (art. 21); nor may it be mortgaged or encumbered (art. 22).

An example. Suppose that you and your partner buy the home where you will raise your children and want to make sure that neither of you can sell it without the other and that it cannot be reached by an attachment for debts unrelated to the household. Placing it under the afectación a vivienda familiar gives you the double signature and exemption from attachment; if the property meets the requirements as to value and freedom from encumbrances, constituting a patrimonio de familia reinforces that protection. These are preventive procedures: they cost little and prevent much.

A mechanism for single-parent households. Ley 861 de 2003 provided that the sole property, urban or rural, belonging to a mujer cabeza de familia (woman head of household, a Colombian statutory status) is constituted as an unattachable patrimonio de familia in favor of her minor children, both living and unborn; the procedure is carried out before the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos (the public instruments registry) and is entirely free of charge (art. 3). The Corte Constitucional extended this protection: it is not a gender privilege, but a safeguard for dependent minors.

The common mistake is to set up these mechanisms once the problem has already arrived. The afectación and the patrimonio de familia protect against creditors and hurried sales if they are registered in good time; doing so once the attachment is already under way is usually too late. Asset protection is, above all, prevention. If your question concerns the property effects of living together, it is also worth reviewing the de facto marital union (unión marital de hecho, a Colombian statutory institution; not the same as common-law marriage); and if the conflict is the dissolution of the marriage bond, divorce in Colombia.

Older people and persons with disabilities in the family

The protection of the family does not look only to children. Older adults and persons with disabilities are also subjects of special protection within the household, and there are routes of their own that are worth knowing.

Older adults. The support obligation is reciprocal: just as parents owe support to their children, descendants owe support to their ascendants (Código Civil, art. 411). When an older adult is left without means or is abandoned by their family, there is a response. Ley 2126 de 2021 (art. 13) empowers the comisario de familia to set a provisional support payment in favor of older adults, in accordance with Ley 1251 de 2008; and Ley 1850 de 2017 strengthened the protection measures against the mistreatment and abandonment of older adults. The comisaría must also provide differentiated attention to the most vulnerable groups, among them older persons and persons with disabilities (Ley 2126, art. 4).

Persons with disabilities. Here the legal system changed at its root. Ley 1996 de 2019 established the regime for the exercise of full legal capacity by adults with disabilities and their access to supports (art. 1), starting from a presumption of capacity: all persons with disabilities have legal capacity on equal terms (art. 6). That statute replaced the old figure of interdicción (the former judicial declaration of incapacity) with mechanisms that respect the person's will: support agreements, formalized before a notary or a conciliator to designate who will assist the person in decision-making (art. 15), and the judicial adjudication of supports before the family court judge where the person cannot express their will (art. 32), always with safeguards that prevent abuse.

An example. Suppose that your mother, now elderly, begins to need help managing her affairs, but retains her will and her preferences. The answer today is not to "have her declared interdicta" —that figure no longer operates in that way—, but to agree on supports that assist her without replacing her, preserving her dignity. If an older relative is being abandoned or stripped of their assets, the Comisaría de Familia and, depending on the case, the Fiscalía, are the doors to protection.

The common mistake is to assume that protecting a vulnerable relative requires overriding their will. The law in force seeks the opposite: to protect by supporting the decision, not by replacing it.

Which authority and which mechanism, depending on the situation

The right route depends on the type of risk. This table summarizes the most frequent routes; each row refers back to the rules developed above, and none of them replaces advice on your specific case.

What NOT to do when your family is at risk

Some reactions, understandable under pressure, end up weakening the protection. They are worth avoiding:

• Do not wait for the violence "to pass". The protection measure exists precisely in order to intervene in time; postponing it raises the risk and complicates the evidence. Remember that the request must be filed within the thirty days following the events.
• Do not give up the child's support on the strength of verbal agreements. Support is a right of the child, not of the parents; a "word-of-mouth arrangement" does not guarantee it. Formalize the amount in conciliation or before the judge.
• Do not use the children as a tool of pressure. Denying visitation or withholding the child in order to force agreements harms the child and may turn against you when custody is determined.
• Do not sign the sale or the encumbrance of the home without understanding the afectación a vivienda familiar. If the property is under the afectación a vivienda familiar, the signature of both is required; disregarding that protection may vitiate the transaction.
• Do not wait for the attachment in order to shield your assets. The afectación and the patrimonio de familia protect if they are constituted before the problem, not after.
• Do not confuse the administrative route with the criminal one. Requesting a protection measure does not replace the criminal complaint where an offense has been committed, nor the other way around; it is often advisable to activate both.

Common myths about family protection

Misinformation paralyzes. These are some misunderstandings worth clearing up:

"I need a lawyer just to request protection." To file the request for a protection measure it is not compulsory; the request may be made by the victim, by someone on their behalf or by the Family Defender, and even orally (Ley 294, art. 9). It is another matter that legal advice helps prepare the case better.

"If the house is in my partner's name, there is nothing I can do." False. Faced with violence, the authority may order the removal of the aggressor and regulate the use of the family home, regardless of who is listed as the owner (Ley 294, art. 5).

"Whoever does not pay support only risks being sued." Today the risk is considerably greater: entry in the REDAM, with bars on contracting with the State, obtaining credit, transferring assets or leaving the country (Ley 2097 de 2021), in addition to enforcement proceedings and possible criminal liability.

"Custody is always given to the mother." There is no such automatic rule. Custody is determined by the best interests of the child, and it may fall to the father, to the mother or be shared, according to what best protects the child (Ley 1098, arts. 8, 9 and 23).

"Reporting the violence destroys the family." The law holds the opposite: preserving the integrity of the family cannot justify the risk to, or the violation of, the rights of its members (Ley 2126 de 2021, art. 4). Protecting the victim is protecting the family.

"A person with a disability has to be declared interdicta." That figure was replaced. Ley 1996 de 2019 starts from the presumption of capacity and provides for supports that assist the person without overriding their will.

Checklist: if your family is at risk

Use this list as a first way of putting your situation in order. It does not replace legal advice, but it helps you arrive prepared before the right authority:

• I have identified the type of risk (violence, support, custody, a child in danger, assets) and the authority that corresponds to it.
• If there is violence, I have gathered whatever I have on hand: dates, messages, witnesses, medical assessments, and I know that I can request the measure from the Comisaría de Familia.
• If it is about support, I am clear about the family relationship and I am seeking to have the amount set or enforced (conciliation, court proceedings, enforcement proceedings or the REDAM).
• If it is about the children, I center the decision on their best interests and not on the tug-of-war with the other parent.
• If a child around me is in danger, I know that I can report it to the Family Defender or the comisario de familia without having to "prove it" first.
• If the risk is financial, I have checked whether the home is under the afectación a vivienda familiar and whether it is advisable to constitute a patrimonio de familia.
• I have distinguished the administrative route from the criminal one and weighed whether it is advisable to activate both.
• I have written down my questions so as to resolve them with legal advice before signing or giving up on anything.

If your family is at risk, put the route in order before moving the case forward

Protecting the family does not consist of a single procedure, but of choosing the route appropriate to the risk you face and activating it in time. The Constitución protects it, and the law places specific authorities and mechanisms at your disposal: the Comisaría de Familia to stop the violence, the family court judge for custody and support, the ICBF to restore a child's rights, the notaría and the registry to shield the home. Knowing which door to knock on —and in what order— is, very often, the difference between a right that is protected and one that is lost to delay.

An early review helps protect agreements, assets, children and evidence from the outset, and helps you avoid steps that are later hard to undo. At Cafore Abogados we will guide you clearly, in your own language and without promises of a result, on the route best suited to your case.

Laws and case law cited

• Constitución Política, arts. 5, 42, 43 and 44 — safeguarding of the family as the basic institution, comprehensive protection, support for the mujer cabeza de familia and fundamental rights of children. Source
• Ley 294 de 1996, arts. 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 — protection measures against domestic violence, jurisdiction of the comisario de familia, provisional measure within 4 hours and penalties for breach (a fine of 2 to 10 SMLMV, monthly statutory minimum wages, convertible into detention). Source
• Ley 2126 de 2021, arts. 3, 4, 5 and 13 — nature and jurisdiction of the comisarías de familia; power to set provisional custody, support and visitation, and a support payment for older adults. Source
• Código Civil, arts. 411, 413, 419 and 421 — who is owed support, its classes, assessment according to the debtor's capacity and enforceability from the first claim. Source
• Ley 1098 de 2006, arts. 8, 9, 23, 24, 50-53, 98, 110 and 129 — best interests and precedence, custody and personal care, support and the provisional amount, and the proceeding for the restoration of rights. Source
• Ley 2097 de 2021 (REDAM), arts. 1, 2 and 6 — the Registro de Deudores Alimentarios Morosos and the consequences of registration. Source
• Ley 258 de 1996, arts. 3, 7 and 12 — afectación a vivienda familiar: double signature, exemption from attachment and application to permanent partners. Source
• Ley 70 de 1931 (as amended by Ley 495 de 1999), arts. 1, 3, 21 and 22 — the unattachable patrimonio de familia. Source
• Ley 861 de 2003 — the unattachable patrimonio de familia over the sole property of the head of household, in favor of the minor children. Source
• Ley 1996 de 2019, arts. 1, 6, 15 and 32 — legal capacity of persons with disabilities and the regime of supports that replaced interdicción. Source
• Corte Constitucional, Sentencia C-029 de 2009 (M.P. Rodrigo Escobar Gil) — extends the unattachable patrimonio de familia and the afectación a vivienda familiar to same-sex couples covered by the regime of Ley 54 de 1990. Source
• Corte Constitucional, Sentencia C-722 de 2004 (M.P. Rodrigo Escobar Gil) — extends the asset protection of Ley 861 de 2003 to the dependent minors of a man in the same situation as a mujer cabeza de familia. Source