Legal Name Change Guatemala 2026: RENAP + Judicial Process

Legally changing your name or surname in Guatemala is NOT done directly at RENAP. It requires first a judicial process or voluntary notarial jurisdiction, and only after the final ruling can RENAP perform the partida rectification on your birth record.

Quick answer: You need an attorney. Fixed fees come to about Q190 (two Q15 birth certifications, about Q30 each for the criminal and police records, and Q100 for the new DPI; RENAP’s fee schedule has no charge for registering the rectification), plus the lawyer’s or notary’s fee, which you agree with them, plus the edict publications, which are quoted per text. Total time 3-9 months (judicial + RENAP + new DPI). The law lets you ask “por cualquier motivo” (for any reason), stating your reasons (Civil and Commercial Procedure Code Art. 438; Decree 54-77 Art. 18); what stops it is a third party’s objection.

What is a name or surname change?

In Guatemala the name is a personality right regulated by the Civil Code (Decree-Law 106), articles 4 through 7. Art. 6 says people may not change their names except with judicial authorization; Decree 54-77 also allows it before a notary. The law lists no causes: you can ask “por cualquier motivo” (for any reason), stating your reasons (Civil and Commercial Procedure Code Art. 438).

There are two procedural paths:

1. Judicial path (family or civil court): for contentious or complex cases.
2. Voluntary notarial jurisdiction (Decree 54-77, Arts. 18-20): if there is no third-party opposition, a notary can handle the case outside court. If someone objects, the notary sends the file to the court (Art. 20).

Both paths end with a final ruling that is registered at RENAP via partida rectification.

Common reasons (the Civil Code lists no causes)

The Civil Code has no list of causes; these are common reasons, not legal requirements. Several have their own route (rectification of a record, identification of a person, adoption, filiation):

• Error in original registration: misspelled name, surnames swapped, missing letter.
• Ridiculous, dignity-harming, or mockable name: extravagant names registered without discretion.
• Serious moral, religious, or social grounds: religious conversion, negative association with a known person.
• Gender identity: no specific rule found in the texts we read; see the section below.
• Adoption: the adopted person can take the adopters’ surnames.
• Marriage (married surname): a wife can add “de [husband surname]” as an addition.
• Divorce (recovery of maiden surname): if she adopted husband’s surname during marriage.
• Paternity recognition or disavowal: changes the paternal surname after a filiation suit.

The law lets you request the change “por cualquier motivo” (Civil and Commercial Procedure Code Art. 438; Decree 54-77 Art. 18); if nobody objects within ten days of the last publication, the judge “accederá al cambio de nombre” (will grant the change; Art. 439).

Requirements

To start the process

• Memorial signed by an active licensed attorney: personal direct applications are not accepted.
• Valid birth certification (issued within the last 6 months by RENAP). Request it at eportal.renap.gob.gt.
• DPI photocopy of the applicant (both sides, legible).
• Criminal background check current (Judicial Branch; about Q30 (La Hora, January 2026; no gratuity law in force), online via oj.gob.gt).
• Police background check current (PNC; about Q30 per MINGOB).
• Documentary justification of the cause: records, photos, witnesses, adoption certification, etc.
• Published notice: the request is published in the Diario Oficial (Diario de Centro América) and one other major newspaper, three times within thirty days; anyone who feels harmed can object, and the resolution comes once ten days pass after the last publication without objection. The change is then published once more in the Diario Oficial (Civil and Commercial Procedure Code Arts. 438-439; Decree 54-77 Arts. 18-19). The Diario de Centro América quotes each publication for the text you submit.

For RENAP registration (after the ruling)

RENAP handles it as an “Inscripción de cambio de nombre” (name-change registration, notarial or judicial). Its requirement pages (checked 24 September 2026) ask for:

• Notarial route: certification of the final resolution of the proceedings, original and duplicate, plus original and photocopy of the last publication in the Diario de Centro América.
• Court route: certification of the court resolution, plus original and photocopy of the last publication in the Diario de Centro América.
• In every case: the RENAP form where one exists and proof of payment of the late-registration fee (Q25) only when it applies (Acuerdo de Directorio 104-2015, Art. 16). The RENAP Law (Art. 84) makes registrations filed within 30 days free; the fee schedule sets no separate payment slip for this registration.

Step-by-step

1. Consult with an attorney. Pick a civil or family lawyer. Ask for a clear quote: includes fees, publication costs, background checks, court trips.

2. Document gathering. Collect birth certification, DPI, background checks, evidence of the cause.

3. Decide path: judicial (court) or notarial (voluntary jurisdiction). The attorney recommends based on the case.

   • Notarial: faster (2-4 months), cheaper, valid if there’s no opposition.
   • Judicial: slower (4-8 months), but mandatory if minors are involved, family opposition, or sensitive cases.

4. Open the file. The attorney files a memorial at court or formalizes it before a notary. A case number is assigned.

5. Notice publication. Published three times within thirty days in the Diario de Centro América and one other major newspaper. Opposition window: ten days from the last publication.

6. Hearing (judicial path only). The judge may request appearance, witnesses, psychological exam. Notarial: ask your notary whether a hearing is needed.

7. Final ruling. If no opposition or objections, judge or notary issues the resolution. Timeframe: 30-60 more days after edict.

8. RENAP rectification. With the ruling in hand, file the application at the RENAP office in your municipality or Sede Central. RENAP’s fee schedule (Acuerdo 15-2020 / 12-2021) has no charge for registering the rectification; you pay for the new certification (Q15). Time: 5-15 business days.

9. Renew DPI. Once the partida is rectified, book an appointment on eportal RENAP to renew DPI with the new name. Cost Q100. Time 30 days.

10. Update everything else: NIT at SAT (free), passport (IGM: US$50 for 5 years / US$85 for 10 years), bank, IGSS, employer, vendors, academic records, property registries.

Cost and timing breakdown

Common errors and how to avoid them

• Thinking it’s done directly at RENAP: RENAP does NOT accept name change applications without a final judicial or notarial ruling. Don’t waste the trip.

• Choosing judicial path when notarial is viable: if your case isn’t contentious (no opposition), voluntary notarial jurisdiction is 50-70% faster and cheaper.

• Not publishing the edict correctly: the edict must be published in Diario de Centro America (mandatory) and a major-circulation newspaper. If you only publish in one, the judge/notary cannot issue the ruling. Verify required publications with your attorney.

• Not keeping a copy of the final ruling: when you collect the sentence or deed, request additional certified copies. You need them for RENAP, bank, SAT, and other future procedures.

• Forgetting to update other records: your name changes legally from the rectification, but if your bank account, NIT, IGSS, or passport stay with the old name, you create problems. Make a checklist and update in priority order: DPI first, then SAT, then bank, then passport.

• Not considering impact on minors: if you have minor children, changing your surname can affect their paternal or maternal surname registration. Consult an attorney first.

Surname order: choosing it at birth, reversing it, or dropping one

These are two different questions with different answers: what order parents can choose when they register a child, and what an adult can do to reverse their surnames or drop one.

At birth registration: parents can agree the order

Civil Code Art. 4 says a person is identified by the name with which their birth is registered, “el que se compone del nombre propio y del apellido de sus padres casados o de sus padres no casados que lo hubieren reconocido” (made up of the given name and the surname of the married parents, or of the unmarried parents who recognized the child). Art. 4 sets no order between the two surnames. For a single mother it does set a rule: “Los hijos de madre soltera serán inscritos con los apellidos de ésta” (children of a single mother are registered with her surnames).

What the Constitutional Court (Corte de Constitucionalidad, CC) has said:

• Case 812-2010, ruling of 27 April 2011. The Human Rights Ombudsman challenged circular 31-2009 of the Registrador Central de las Personas (3 September 2009), which recommended recording the father’s surname first. The Court declared the challenge sin lugar (dismissed): it did not strike the circular down, but it set how the circular must be read. It said Civil Code Art. 4 “no contempla limitación para que las partes puedan arribar a un acuerdo que disponga el orden en el que deberán colocarse los apellidos del descendiente” (places no limit on the parents agreeing the order of the child’s surnames), and that the circular’s recommendation “regirá únicamente en los casos en los que no exista acuerdo de los padres o cuando éstos no manifiesten interés en invertir el orden mencionado” (applies only where the parents have not agreed, or have not asked to reverse the order). It also said that, “a menos que la dinámica social imponga un motivo razonable, los progenitores quedan en la facultad de elegir el orden en el que se deberán consignar los apellido en el Registro correspondiente” (unless social circumstances impose a reasonable ground, parents are free to choose the order).
• First-born and siblings (the Court’s reasoning). In the same ruling, while reviewing comparative law, the Court reasoned that the order chosen for the first-born should be kept, “debiendo conservarse el mismo orden para los subsiguientes” (the same order being kept for the children who follow). That is the Court’s reasoning, not a rule written in the Civil Code.
• RENAP’s August 2021 circulars. On 17 August 2021 the Registro Central de las Personas issued circular RCP-015-2021. As transcribed by the Court in case 5142-2021, it said: “En el caso que comparezcan ambos padres, casados o no, deberá consignarse al hijo/a un apellido de cada uno de ellos, en el orden expresado por ellos” (when both parents appear, married or not, the child gets one surname from each, in the order they state). RENAP’s notice adds that it also told registrars to warn parents that the order chosen for the first-born would set the order for later children. On 27 August 2021, ten days later, RENAP revoked it (notice on prensa.gob.gt), considering “que tal disposición no ha sido suficientemente analizada” (that the measure had not been sufficiently analysed), and left it “sin efectos legales, hasta agotar todos los procedimientos legales establecidos” (without legal effect until all legal procedures are exhausted). The Court identifies the revoking circular as RCP-016-2021.
• Case 5142-2021, ruling of 28 September 2022. The Human Rights Ombudsman, Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade, challenged that revoking circular (RCP-016-2021). The Court dismissed the challenge because of how it was pleaded, not on the merits: it attacked “un supuesto -orden determinado para la inscripción de los apellidos- que no se encuentra regulado en la circular cuestionada” (a rule on surname order that the challenged circular does not contain). The most useful part of the ruling is what RENAP itself told the Court: that the circular “no contiene prohibición para que los progenitores puedan elegir libremente el orden de los apellidos con el que pretendan inscribir a sus hijos, pues la facultad de libre elección subsiste con independencia de la circular impugnada, en atención a lo dispuesto en el artículo 4 del Código Civil que no establece orden particular para la inscripción de los apellidos de los progenitores” (does not prohibit parents from freely choosing the order; that freedom subsists under Civil Code Art. 4, which sets no particular order).

In practice. On 29 September 2026 we found no RENAP circular after RCP-016-2021 on surname order, and no published description of the counter procedure RENAP uses today to register the mother’s surname first (we checked RENAP’s notices on prensa.gob.gt and the Court’s case-law search, where 812-2010 and 5142-2021 were the only constitutional challenges on the point that the search returned). A search of Congress bill titles for apellidos returned none. If both parents want the mother’s surname first, ask for it at registration citing Civil Code Art. 4 and case 812-2010, and be ready for the registrar to refuse; if that happens, talk to a lawyer.

Adults: reversing or dropping a surname is a name change

For an adult, reversing the order of your surnames or dropping one (for example, your father’s) is not an administrative correction at RENAP: it is a name change. Civil Code Art. 6 says “Las personas no pueden cambiar sus nombres sino con autorización judicial” (people may not change their names except with judicial authorization), and Art. 4 says the name carries the surname of the married parents or of the parents who recognized the child. The route is the one this page describes: the court path or voluntary notarial jurisdiction.

• In case 812-2010 the Court remarked, in passing, that “la elección del nombre y apellidos constituye un derecho personalísimo que el individuo, en su mayoría de edad, puede determinar según su propia preferencia” (choosing one’s name and surnames is a very personal right an adult can decide by preference). That remark does not remove Art. 6’s requirement of judicial authorization.
• Art. 7 says “La identificación y el cambio de nombre no modifican la condición civil del que la obtiene ni constituye prueba alguna de la filiación” (identification and name change do not alter civil status and are no proof of filiation).
• If you have constantly and publicly used your name without one of your surnames, Art. 5 provides a different route, identification of a person: “El que constante y públicamente use nombre propio o apellido distinto del que consta en su partida de nacimiento, o use incompleto su nombre, u omita alguno de los apellidos que le corresponden, puede establecer su identificación por medio de declaración jurada hecha en escritura pública” (someone who constantly and publicly uses a different name, or omits one of their surnames, can establish identification by sworn statement in a public deed). Ask your attorney which route fits your case.
• Since Decreto 8-2018, Art. 5 also says “La presencia o ausencia de tilde en un nombre no lo hace distinto” (having or lacking an accent mark does not make a name different): an accent mark alone never requires a name change.

We found no separate fee or timeline for this specific request; the name-change costs and times above apply.

Special cases

Change by marriage (wife adds husband’s surname)

In Guatemala, marriage does NOT automatically change the surname. The wife keeps her maiden surnames. If she wants to add the husband’s surname to her own, which Civil Code Art. 108 gives her the right to do, it’s registered as an addition, not a change. Art. 108 does not say how the added surname is written. The procedure is simpler:

• Present marriage certification at RENAP.
• Request surname addition as marginal annotation on birth record.
• Cost: the annotation carries no fee in RENAP’s schedule; you pay the new certification (Q15). No judicial process.

Recovery of maiden surname after divorce

If the wife adopted “de [husband surname]” during marriage and in the divorce wants to recover only maiden surnames:

• Civil Code Art. 108 gives the wife the right to add her spouse’s surname and keep it for good, unless the marriage is dissolved by nullity or by divorce: divorce ends that right without a separate suit.
• What you do is register the divorce at RENAP (certification of the ruling + birth certifications of both spouses) and then update the DPI.

See divorce registration.

Change by gender identity

We found no rule specific to gender identity in the texts we read: Civil Code Arts. 4-7 and RENAP’s requirement pages for a notarial or judicial name change (checked 30 September 2026). What those texts say applies to any name change: Art. 6 requires judicial authorization, a notary can handle it under Decree 54-77 when nobody objects (see the paths above), and RENAP then asks for the certified final resolution and the last publication in the Diario de Centro América, plus its own form. We could not source how courts or notaries have handled requests on gender-identity grounds, or any count of such cases, so talk to a Guatemalan lawyer before you file.

Correction (30 September 2026): this section said such cases have increased since 2020, that some courts accept the notarial route with a psychological report while others require the judicial path, and pointed to specific organisations for legal help. We could not source any of it and removed it.

Change by adoption

After an adoption ruling, the adopted person’s surnames automatically change to the adopters’. RENAP rectification is done by presenting the adoption ruling. No registration fee; the new certification costs Q15.

Related procedures

• Main hub: all RENAP procedures
• Partida rectification — the final step at RENAP after the ruling
• Birth certification — base document required
• Get or renew DPI — to obtain DPI with the new name
• Civil marriage registration
• Divorce registration
• Book appointment on eportal RENAP — to attend the rectification appointment

Official links

• renap.gob.gt - Services — official procedures page
• eportal.renap.gob.gt — portal for booking and online services
• RENAP document validation
• Guatemala Civil Code, CENADOJ compilation current to 8 August 2025 (PDF, Organismo Judicial) — articles 4-7 on the name
• Constitutional Court, case 812-2010 (PDF) and case 5142-2021 (PDF) — surname order
• RENAP: revocation of circular RCP-015-2021 (prensa.gob.gt)
• Judicial Branch - Criminal background — for processing background checks online
• RENAP phone: 1516 (call center) or PBX +502 2416-1900 (head office, Calzada Roosevelt 13-46 zona 7; per renap.gob.gt, 24 September 2026)

RENAP fees verified September 5, 2026 against the current fee schedule (Acuerdo de Directorio 15-2020 as amended by 12-2021: birth certification Q15, other certifications Q25, late registration Q25, DPI Q100; no fee exists for registering a rectification). Passport per the IGM table. Everything else verified May 2026. Judicial costs and attorney fees can vary by region, complexity, and professional. Publication fees in official newspapers update periodically. Consult a licensed civil or family attorney to evaluate your specific case.