Mérida, Yucatán — The Yucatán High Court has established a new legal precedent strengthening the rights of same-sex couples, ruling that keeping a relationship private due to fear of family rejection does not prevent proving the existence of a concubinage.
The precedent, published Friday in the state official gazette under key PR.SCF.177.026.Común, is binding on all courts in the state when resolving similar cases and marks an advance in delivering justice with a sexual diversity perspective.
The ruling arose from the case of a woman seeking recognition of concubinage with her deceased partner. A lower court had dismissed the claim, finding the relationship did not meet the publicity and notoriety requirements under state law because it was not known to the deceased’s family. The court had given weight to testimony from relatives who claimed the woman maintained a heterosexual image, without considering that the couple had chosen to keep their relationship private due to lack of acceptance.
On appeal, the Civil and Family Collegiate Chamber overturned that decision, concluding that the absence of family recognition cannot be used to deny concubinage, as many same-sex couples have had to guard their private lives in contexts of discrimination or stigmatization.
The resolution states that requiring family validation would impose a disproportionate burden on same-sex couples, whose social reality has been marked by rejection. Discretion may be a protective measure rather than evidence that a stable relationship does not exist.
The court specified that concubinage can be proven through various elements demonstrating a shared life project, including recognition by close friends, shared accounts or expenses, economic and emotional support, care during illness, and joint decision-making on important matters.
The precedent was approved unanimously during a session held June 9, 2026, in appeal case 844/2025, authored by Magistrate María Carolina Silvestre Canto Valdés.
With this ruling, Yucatán’s judiciary sets a guiding criterion for judges to analyze such cases with a human rights, equality, and sexual diversity perspective, prioritizing the reality of cohabitation over stereotypes or social acceptance.
