Practice area
Civil Law
Contracts, inheritances, leases, debt collection and damages: comprehensive representation in private disputes.
What this area covers
- Enforcement of negotiable instruments
- Inheritance claim actions
- Property recovery actions
- Mortgage foreclosure actions
- Court authorization to sell real estate (minors or legally incapacitated persons)
- Legal name change
- Assignment of inheritance rights
- Check collection
- Collection of bills of exchange and promissory notes
- Invoice collection
- Collection of common expenses
- Legal incapacity declaration (dementia)
- Legal incapacity declaration (prodigality)
- Declaration of presumed death
- Lease termination lawsuits for unpaid rent
- Statutory right of retention
- Attachments and seizures
- Title searches
- Expropriations
- Common expenses
- Inheritance and probate proceedings
- Damages claims
- Lease litigation
- Estate partition proceedings
- Medical malpractice
- Contract annulment
- Eviction of unlawful occupants (precario)
- Drafting of deeds and civil contracts
- Domain name revocation
- Corporate regularization
- Name change petitions
- Third-party claims
- Wills
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to collect on an unpaid cheque or promissory note?
Not long. The enforcement action on a cheque expires one year from the date of protest (art. 34 of the Chilean Cheques Act, DFL 707), and on a promissory note one year from its due date (art. 98 of Law 18.092). The clock stops only when the debtor is served with the claim or the preparatory step (art. 100) — calls and collection letters do not stop it.
I inherited a property together with my siblings — what is the first step?
The posesión efectiva — the order recognising the heirs. Without a will it is granted by the Civil Registry (Law 19.903); with a will, by a court and through a lawyer. Only then is it recorded at the Real Estate Registry, and until the entries required by art. 688 of the Civil Code exist, no heir can sell or mortgage.
My tenant has not paid for months — can I ask them to leave?
Through a court, not on your own. Since Law 21.461 — «Devuélveme mi casa» — unpaid rent and recovery of the property are claimed together in a monitorio procedure: if the judge accepts the claim, the tenant is ordered to pay within ten working days and, failing that, to vacate within another ten. The same law allows asking for early restitution while the case is still running.
This is general information about Chilean law, not advice on a specific case: deadlines and requirements change with the facts.
Other practice areas
Need counsel in Civil Law?
Tell us what happened and we will tell you whether we can help and how. Santiago and Valparaíso, Monday to Friday.