Written by the Guatemala Life team, based in Guatemala City.
A civil wedding in Guatemala has no single price, and much of what circulates online comes from no published instrument. This page builds the bill line by line, and every amount names the law, regulation or tariff that sets it. The three items that nobody publishes — what the municipality charges, what RENAP charges to register the marriage, and what the edicts for a foreign partner cost — are marked as such rather than filled in by guesswork.
If one of you is not Guatemalan, the documents you need (identity, proof of freedom to marry, legalisation and sworn translation) are covered in two foreigners marrying in Guatemala. This page is the cost side of the same wedding.
Quick summary: Notarial route, counting only what the tariff publishes: Q320.00 to Q7,020.00 (acta notarial Q100.00–Q2,000.00 + protocolisation charged as a deed of undetermined value Q200.00–Q5,000.00 + two Q10.00 stamps), plus Q5.00 per page; the actual fee is freely agreed. Municipal route: no published fee. Registering the marriage at RENAP: no published fee. The certificate afterwards: Q25.00. Birth certificate: Q15.00 each. Constancia negativa: Q25.00. A foreign partner adds edicts in two newspapers, price not published.
Sources read on 21 September 2026: Civil Code (Decreto Ley 106), Notarial Code (CENADOJ, Organismo Judicial), Decreto 82-96 and RENAP’s service tariff (Acuerdo de Directorio 15-2020 with the 12-2021 amendments).
The bill, line by line
| Item | Amount | Who charges it | Instrument that sets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notary’s fee (acta notarial) | Q100.00 to Q2,000.00 | Notary | Notarial Code, Art. 109 numeral 7 |
| Notary’s fee (protocolising the acta) | No amount of its own: charged by whether the value is determined; for undetermined value, Q200.00 to Q5,000.00 | Notary | Notarial Code, Art. 109 numerals 8 and 1 |
| Pages written | Q5.00 per page or fraction | Notary | Notarial Code, Art. 109 numeral 16 |
| Notarial stamp on the acta notarial | Q10.00 | Bar association (Colegio de Abogados y Notarios) | Decreto 82-96, Art. 3 numeral 2 literal c) |
| Notarial stamp on the protocolisation | Q10.00 | Bar association (Colegio de Abogados y Notarios) | Decreto 82-96, Art. 3 numeral 2 literal b) |
| Notary working outside the office | Q50.00 per hour, plus Q6.00 per kilometre if outside the town | Notary | Notarial Code, Art. 108 |
| Ceremony before the mayor or a council member | No published fee | Municipality | Civil Code, Art. 92 and Art. 103 |
| Registering the marriage at RENAP | No published fee | RENAP | Tariff AD 15-2020: marriage does not appear |
| Marriage certificate (the copy you are asked for later) | Q25.00 | RENAP | AD 15-2020, Art. 2 numeral 4 |
| Birth certificate (requirement, each) | Q15.00 | RENAP | AD 15-2020, Art. 2 numeral 1 |
| Constancia negativa | Q25.00 | RENAP | AD 15-2020, Art. 2 numeral 8 |
| DPI replacement, if needed | Q100.00 | RENAP | AD 15-2020, Art. 2 numeral 14 |
| Edicts (only if a partner is foreign or naturalised) | Price not published | Diario Oficial and another newspaper | Civil Code, Art. 96 |
Adding only the lines with a published amount, the notarial route runs Q320.00 to Q7,020.00 plus Q5.00 per page, and RENAP adds Q15.00 per birth certificate and Q25.00 for the marriage certificate when you request it. Three lines have no published price anywhere, so there is no honest total for the whole wedding: any single round figure you see elsewhere is filling those gaps.
If one of you is a foreigner: the edicts
The extra item for a couple with a foreign partner is not a fee at all: it is newspaper publication.
“ARTICULO 96.- (Contrayente extranjero).- El contrayente que fuere extranjero o guatemalteco naturalizado, deberá comprobar en forma fehaciente su identidad y libertad de estado. Previamente a la celebración del matrimonio, se publicarán edictos en el Diario Oficial y en otro de mayor circulación, por el término de quince días, emplazando a denunciarlo a quienes sepan de algún impedimento legal para el mismo. Si el matrimonio no fuere celebrado dentro de los seis meses de publicados los edictos, éstos perderán su efecto legal.”
In English: a foreign or naturalised partner must reliably prove identity and freedom to marry, and before the wedding edicts run for fifteen days in the official gazette and another widely circulated paper, calling on anyone who knows of a legal impediment to report it. Two cost consequences follow. Each newspaper charges its own rate, which no official source we could open publishes. And the edicts lapse after six months: if the wedding slips past that, you publish and pay again.
The paperwork that proves identity and freedom to marry — legalised or apostilled foreign documents and sworn translations — is set out in two foreigners marrying in Guatemala; for US documents, see apostilling US documents for Guatemala. If you cannot both be in Guatemala, marriage by proxy has its own rules. If you already married abroad, what you need instead is to register a US marriage in Guatemala.
Before a notary: the tariff, and why quotes differ so much
The person who performs a private civil wedding — called licenciado or abogado in everyday Guatemalan Spanish — is legally a notary (Civil Code, Art. 92 names a notary legally qualified to practise, alongside the mayor and an authorised minister of a faith), and the fee falls under the Notarial Code, not the lawyers’ tariff.
The notarial route costs more than the municipal one for a reason written into the law: the notary does not only draw up a record, the record must also be protocolised.
“ARTICULO 101.- (Actas de matrimonio).- Las actas de matrimonio serán asentadas en un libro especial que deberán llevar las municipalidades. Los notarios harán constar el matrimonio en acta notarial que deberá ser protocolizada, y los ministros de los cultos, en libros debidamente autorizados por el Ministerio de Gobernación.”
That makes two tariffed acts. The first:
“7. (Reformado por el Artículo 3 del Decreto 131-96 del Congreso de la República). Por acta notarial de cien quetzales (Q.100.00) a dos mil quetzales (Q. 2,000.00), según su importancia.”
The second has no amount of its own; the tariff sends you to the value of the document:
“8. Por protocolización de documentos, de acuerdo con lo que corresponda según su valor sea o no determinado.”
A marriage has no determined money value, so the matching line is the one for deeds of undetermined value:
“1. (Reformado por el Artículo 3 del Decreto 131-96 del Congreso de la República). Por autorización de escrituras de valor indeterminado, de doscientos a cinco mil quetzales (Q. 200.00 a Q. 5,000.00), según su importancia.”
Then the pages:
“16. (Reformado por el Artículo 3 del Decreto 131-96 del Congreso de la República). Además de los honorarios especificados anteriormente, el Notario cobrará lo escrito a razón de cinco quetzales (Q. 5.00) por cada hoja o fracción. Los impuestos, timbres fiscales y honorarios que cobraren los registros respectivos serán por cuenta del interesado.”
And two notarial stamps, which are a tax rather than a fee: “c) Actas notariales y de legalización de firmas o documentos. Diez quetzales (Q.10.00).” on the acta, and “b) Contratos de valor indeterminado y protocolaciones. Diez quetzales (Q.10.00)” on the protocolisation. That money is not the notary’s: “ARTICULO 2. Los fondos provenientes de tal impuesto son privativos del Colegio de Abogados y Notarios de Guatemala…”
For a ceremony at a hotel, a finca or a family home, the tariff adds time and distance:
“Artículo 108. (Reformado por el Artículo 3 del Decreto 29-75 y por el Artículo 2 del Decreto 131-96, ambos del Congreso de la República). -Los Notarios que prestaren sus servicios fuera de su oficina pero dentro del radio de la población en que residen, además de los honorarios que les correspondan conforme a este arancel, cobrarán cincuenta quetzales (Q. 50.00) por cada hora de trabajo, pero si el servicio tiene lugar fuera de la población, el Notario cobrará también seis quetzales (Q. 6.00) por cada kilómetro o fracción, sumados de ida y regreso.”
Now the part that explains why two notaries quote you very different prices: the tariff is a fallback, not a floor.
“Artículo 106. -Los Notarios, así como las personas que soliciten sus servicios profesionales, son libres para contratar sobre honorarios y condiciones de pago. A falta de convenio, los honorarios se regularán conforme a este Arancel, en moneda nacional.”
The tariff applies only if you and the notary agreed nothing. Market rates by type of act are on our notary fees in Guatemala page. To check that the person marrying you is registered, see notary registration with the Organismo Judicial.
Before the mayor: why nobody publishes a price
The honest answer here is an absence, and we would rather say so than invent a number.
We found no published municipal fee for performing a marriage, and no municipality declaring it free — and the only one we checked in depth is Guatemala City’s. Its portal blocks automated access, so we went through the site’s archive instead: in an inventory of 20,000 archived addresses, the word matrimonio appears seven times (blog posts, an image and a council document), casar never, and tarifa once, for bus fares.
What the law does say is that the paperwork is on plain paper:
“ARTICULO 103.- Todos los días y horas son hábiles para la celebración del matrimonio. Las diligencias, constancias, certificaciones, avisos y testimonios relativos al mismo se extenderán en papel simple.”
And that for a wedding outside the municipal seat, the mayor travels if the couple provides transport:
“ARTICULO 104.- Cuando se trata de matrimonios que deban celebrarse fuera del perímetro de la sede municipal, el alcalde, o quien haga sus veces, concurrirá a donde sea necesario, siempre que los interesados faciliten los medios de transporte.”
In practice: budget the municipal route as the one without a professional fee or a protocolisation, but ask your municipality whether it charges any administrative fee, because we found none published. The procedure itself is in our civil marriage in Guatemala guide.
RENAP paperwork, and the charge that does not exist
RENAP charges no published fee to register a marriage. The word matrimonio does not appear once in its current tariff. Its service page for registering a municipal marriage asks for one document:
“Copia certificada del acta de matrimonio, en la cual debe consignarse si se celebraron o no capitulaciones matrimoniales y si fuera el caso, identificar el documento en el cual se celebraron, así como el régimen económico adoptado.”
The Q25.00 people quote is something else: the certificate you ask for afterwards, which the tariff lists as:
“4. Certificación de las demás inscripciones registrales Q25.00”
The other tariff lines a wedding does trigger:
“1. Certificación de inscripción de nacimiento Q15.00”
“8. Constancia negativa Q25.00”
“14. Documento Personal de Identificación -DPI- Q100.00”
“11. Inscripción Extemporánea (se exceptúan las que sean ordenadas por juez competente) Q25.00”
When you need the certified copy of your marriage, the steps are in marriage certificate in Guatemala.
After the wedding: 15 business days (and a fine of Q1 to Q5)
Registration does not depend on you; it depends on whoever married you. The Civil Code sets the deadline and the penalty:
“ARTICULO 102.- (Copia del acta al Registro Civil).- Dentro de los quince días hábiles siguientes a la celebración del matrimonio, el alcalde que lo haya autorizado deberá enviar al Registro Civil que corresponda, copia certificada del acta y los notarios y ministros de los cultos aviso circunstanciado. La falta de cumplimiento de esta obligación será sancionada, en cada caso, con multa de uno a cinco quetzales, que impondrá el juez local a favor de la Municipalidad.”
The fine the article sets is one to five quetzales, so the practical step is to ask for proof that the record was sent and check the registration later. RENAP does not publish how long registration takes, so we give no timeline.
Special cases that change the bill
One of you was married before. The Civil Code requires proof of the dissolution and, if there are children, that their support is secured: “ARTICULO 95.- (Contrayente que fue casado).- El contrayente que hubiere sido casado, presentará el documento legal que acredite la disolución o insubsistencia del matrimonio anterior; si hubiere tenido hijos, comprobará estar garantizada la obligación de alimentarlos; y si tuviere bienes de menores bajo su administración, presentará el inventario respectivo.” For a Guatemalan record, RENAP’s tariff charges Q25.00 per certificate of other registrations (Acuerdo de Directorio 15-2020, Art. 2 numeral 4).
You do not want to wait. There is no minimum waiting period once the requirements are met — for a foreign partner, the edicts are one of them: “ARTICULO 98.- (Señalamiento de día y hora).- Cerciorado el funcionario de la capacidad de los contrayentes y cumplidos, en su caso, los requisitos que exigen los artículos anteriores, señalará, si lo solicitan los contrayentes, día y hora para la celebración del matrimonio, o procederá a su celebración inmediata.”
A deathbed marriage. The law allows the formalities to be skipped: “ARTICULO 105.- (Matrimonio en artículo de muerte).- En caso de enfermedad grave de uno o de ambos contrayentes, podrá ser autorizado el matrimonio sin observarse las formalidades establecidas, siempre que no exista ningún impedimento ostensible y evidente que haga ilegal el acto y que conste claramente el consentimiento de los contrayentes enfermos.”
Frequently asked questions
How much does a civil wedding cost in Guatemala?
Before a notary, the published tariff lines add up to Q320.00 to Q7,020.00 plus Q5.00 per page, but the fee is freely agreed and the tariff applies only absent an agreement. Before the mayor, no fee is published. RENAP publishes no fee for registering the marriage; the certificate afterwards is Q25.00.
Does it cost more if one of us is a foreigner?
Yes: Article 96 requires edicts in the Diario Oficial and another widely circulated newspaper for fifteen days before the wedding, and they lapse after six months. Each newspaper sets its own price, and no official source we could open publishes it.
How much does a notary charge to marry us?
Whatever you agree. Absent an agreement, the tariff sets the acta notarial at Q100.00 to Q2,000.00 and the protocolisation, charged as a deed of undetermined value, at Q200.00 to Q5,000.00, plus Q5.00 per page and two Q10.00 stamps. Outside the office, add Q50.00 per hour, and Q6.00 per kilometre outside the town.
Is a wedding before the mayor free?
No fee is published, and neither is an official statement that it is free. The law requires the marriage’s paperwork to be on plain paper (Art. 103). Ask the municipality before assuming either.
What does RENAP charge to register the marriage?
No published fee: matrimonio does not appear in RENAP’s tariff. The Q25.00 line in the tariff is the certificate you request later.
Which documents cost money before the wedding?
On RENAP’s tariff: birth certificate Q15.00, constancia negativa Q25.00, DPI replacement Q100.00 if needed. A foreign partner’s legalised and translated documents follow the rules on our foreigners page; we do not price them here.
What if the officiant never notifies RENAP?
Article 102 gives the officiant 15 business days after the wedding and fines a failure one to five quetzales, imposed by the local judge for the municipality. Ask for proof it was sent, and check the registration later.