La declaratoria judicial de la unión de hecho post mortem en el Ecuador: ¿garantía de derechos del conviviente sobreviviente o riesgo para la seguridad jurídica de los herederos?

Abstract

A de facto union constitutes a legitimate expression of family diversity recognized by the Ecuadorian legal system. However, when one of the partners dies without the relationship having been formally recognized beforehand, proving its existence may become a significant legal and human challenge. In this context, two interests requiring equal protection converge: the surviving partner's right to have a shared life recognized and the heirs' right to ensure that the estate is not altered by claims lacking sufficient evidentiary support. This study analyzed the judicial declaration of a post-mortem de facto union in Ecuador, with particular emphasis on its legal effects, evidentiary difficulties, and impact on legal certainty. The research adopted a qualitative, documentary, and legal-dogmatic approach, supported by analytical-synthetic, exegetical, hermeneutic, and jurisprudential methods. The literature review used the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT across academic, legal, and case-law sources. The findings show that the main issue is not the legal recognition of a post-mortem union itself, but establishing clear criteria to prove the actual existence of stability, monogamy, cohabitation, and a shared life project. It is concluded that the protection of the surviving partner and the legal certainty of the heirs are not incompatible interests, provided that there is an adversarial process, a comprehensive assessment of the evidence, and enhanced judicial reasoning.