The Santiago Court of Appeals has ordered the Civil Registry and Identification Service to update a death record by adding the national identity number (RUN) of the deceased individual, ruling that the agency acted illegally by imposing unwritten restrictions on administrative rectifications.
In a ruling dated July 29 in case roll N° 7304-2026, the appellate court upheld a protection action filed against the Civil Registry. According to the court’s decision, the agency’s Letter RC N°45-2026 improperly rejected a request to administratively rectify death record N°735 from Registry X of 2015. The underlying record documented the death of a person who passed away on January 8, 1991, in Venezuela.
The dispute originated when a particular sought to lift a lifetime usufruct encumbering a piece of real estate in La Cisterna. The person had acquired the bare ownership of the land, but the lingering usufruct remained tied to the deceased individual. The Conservador de Bienes Raíces de San Miguel refused to lift the encumbrance because the death certificate lacked the deceased’s national identification number.
When the applicant turned to the Civil Registry to incorporate the RUN N°588.591-4 into the registry, the agency rejected the petition. The Civil Service argued that modifications of this nature must be requested by the titular of the record, their descendants, or an authorized legal representative—none of which applied to the petitioner.
The Santiago Court of Appeals dismantled that defense by re-examining Article 17 of Law N°4.808 regarding civil registries. While the statute establishes that civil records generally require a final judicial sentence for alteration, its second and fourth paragraphs grant the Director General authority to order administrative rectifications for manifest errors or omissions that are clear from the reading of the record or its foundational documents.
According to the court, the file contained ample evidence establishing a clear identity match. The original 2015 Chilean registration derived from a Venezuelan death certificate that omitted the RUN. However, the Civil Registry’s own database assigned RUN N°588.591-4 to an individual with matching personal details and family background. Furthermore, a prior ruling by the San Miguel Court of Appeals (Rol N°1338-2018-CIV) had already established the identity of the deceased usufructuary and declared the usufruct extinguished under Article 806 of the Civil Code.
The appellate judges determined that the Civil Registry introduced a requirement not found in the text of Article 17 by demanding a specific type of standing from the applicant. The statute does not restrict the Director General’s rectifying powers to requests from the titular, descendants, or mandated agents, and even permits the office to act of its own accord.
By ignoring undisputed objective records and prior judicial findings, the agency’s refusal violated the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law under Article 19 N°2 of the Chilean Constitution. The court concluded that this administrative barrier directly obstructed the person from exercising full legal rights over the estate.
The court ultimately granted the protection action without costs, instructing the Civil Registry and Identification Service to append RUN N°588.591-4 to death record N°735 of Registry X from 2015.