One of the successful outcomes of the litigation team led by María Mercedes Gonzalo Garachana included an advancement in Dominican jurisprudence. Below, we quote the relevant parts:
Judgment No. 549-2016-ECIV-01672, issued on February 25, 2019, by the First Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the Judicial District of Santo Domingo.
The deposit in a file in which it is intended to record the fact of the notorious cohabitation of a couple, of a notoriety act containing a sworn declaration of cohabitation executed by a notary, without the registered copy, are not required under Article 31 of Law 140-15.
This has been determined in the aforementioned judgment, after rejecting the request to exclude this document as proof of the status of notorious cohabitant, by establishing that: “That in the present case there is deposited the authentic act No. 30, dated… containing the sworn declaration of cohabitation of the plaintiff Mrs. DGT and the deceased RDPR, an act executed in accordance with the laws and therefore with legal value, that the lack of deposit of the registered copy, are not required under Article 31 of Law 140-15”.
