LAW NO. 20,377 ON DECLARATION OF ABSENCE BY FORCED DISAPPEARANCE OF PERSONS Having present that the National Congress has given its approval to the following Bill: Article 1 °.-For the purposes of this Law, it is considered enforced disappearance of arrest, detention, kidnapping or any other form of deprivation of liberty that is the work of state agents or persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by the refusal to recognise such deprivation of liberty or the concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the missing person, which occurred between 11 September 1973 and 10 March 1990. Article 2.-They may request the declaration of absence due to enforced disappearance, the spouse or the children of the missing person. In the absence of these, they may be requested by the descendants. If they do not exist, they will be able to ask for their ascendants. In the absence of ascendants and descendants, the collateral may be requested. In any case, for the purposes of the legitimacy for the application, the next-degree relatives exclude those from the farthest degree. Article 3.-With the accreditation of the active legitimacy, by means of the corresponding certificates, issued by the Service of Civil Registry and Identification, or by services of similar nature of foreign States, duly legalised, and with the background referred to in the following Article, intended to prove the enforced disappearance provided by the applicant, the judge shall decide on the admissibility of the application. The judge may declare the application inadmissible, even if it is unfounded or to ask the applicant, within a reasonable period of time not to exceed 30 days, to make more records. Article 4 °.-The final judgment of the court that configures the enforced disappearance of a person, according to the definition of article 1 of this law, as well as the inclusion of a person in the Report of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission or in the Report of the National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation, as well as in reports of commissions of the same nature that could be created, already as a missing person, already as executed, in the case where the certificate of death or, having been, the family has not had access to the remains, they will be proof sufficient of the enforced disappearance. For these purposes, the authorised copy of the judgment or certificate issued by the competent authority of the administration shall produce full proof. Article 5 °.-In the decision to deal with the application for a declaration of absence by enforced disappearance, the publication shall be ordered, for once, in a national circulation journal, of an extract from the application, which shall be contain, in any case, the individualisation of the person who is the victim of disappearance, as well as that of the person or the applicants. Article 6 °.-Translate thirty days from the publication referred to in the previous article, the judge shall declare the absence of enforced disappearance right. If there is opposition, the procedure will continue in accordance with the rules of the summary judgment. The opposition can only be deducted by those who have the active legitimacy of the application, in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of this Law. The judge shall always resolve in favour of the claim of the person who is competent for the application for absence of enforced disappearance. Only in case he or the applicants of the declaration, as well as the opponents to it, are able to do so, can the judge resolve the conflict according to the probative merit of the antecedents on the enforced disappearance. Only in these circumstances, when the basis of the application is one of the instruments mentioned in the second paragraph of article 4 ° of this law, the judge must declare the absence by enforced disappearance. Article 7 °.-According to the rules of this law, the declaration of absence by enforced disappearance is the judicial judgment which, recognizing the disappearance of a person in the terms of Article 1 °, transfers the assets of the missing person, and in his case, he dissolves the marriage. Such a judgment shall be contested in accordance with the general rules. Article 8 °.-The declaration will only produce effects for the future. The judgment will contain, at least, the individualisation of the applicants, that of the opponents in their case, that of the missing person, the fact of the disappearance, the grounds which were given for their establishment and the declaration of Absence founded on enforced disappearance. It will not be necessary for the judgment to contain the exact data of the disappearance. Article 9 °.-The sentence shall be executed, the assets of the deceased shall be transferred according to the following rules: (a) If there are children, all the goods shall be transferred to them and to the spouse, if any. If there is only one child, the transfer of the assets of the missing person shall be made in equal parts of the person and the spouse. If there is more than one child, the assets of the deceased shall be shared between them and the spouse in such a way that the spouse does not correspond to him less than the fourth part of the estate of the missing person. By ensuring the above, the spouse will be responsible for the transfer of twice as much as for each child. (b) If there is no spouse, all the goods shall be transferred in equal parts between the children. (c) If there are no children, the goods shall be transferred to the spouse and the ascending relatives of the nearest degree, dividing the estate into three parts, two for the spouse and one for the ascending persons. (d) If there are no children or spouses, the goods shall be transferred to the ascending persons in equal parts. The nearest-grade ascendants will exclude the others. (e) If there are no children, spouse, or ascendants, the goods shall be transferred to the collateral in equal parts up to and including the sixth grade. The closest-grade collaterals will exclude the others. In the case of the brothers, the carnal will have the right to be transferred to them twice as far as the maternal or paternal. In the case of collateral, the double-conjunction shall be entitled to double the amount corresponding to those of a simple combination. f) The children and siblings of the missing person will attend the transfer personally or represented by their descendants, by stretching. If the missing person has left a will, the rules on succession tested on the part of the estate affected by it will apply. Article 10.-The executed sentence declaring the absence of enforced disappearance will produce, only in the case where the non-missing spouse has requested it, the dissolution of the marriage. However, even if the judgment is enforceable, the non-deceased spouse may, in the same court as the court which has issued it, apply for the extension of the sentence in order to order the dissolution of the marriage. Article 11. Once the sentence has been executed, the judge shall officiate the Civil Registry and Identification Service, which shall take the corresponding measures, in accordance with the regulations, to record the dissolution of the marriage, if any, and will give an act of transfer of all the assets of the disappeared according to the rules of this law. For these purposes, the applicant must present to the National Civil Registry Service and identify a simple inventory of the goods of the absent by forced disappearance. In respect of real estate, the beneficiaries of the transfer shall be deemed to be holders from the registration of the transfer act in the Property Registry of the corresponding Real Estate Conservative. In respect of movable property, the general rules on possession and dominion shall apply. Article 12.-The applicants for the declaration of absence due to enforced disappearance, as well as the beneficiaries of the transfers governed by this law, shall enjoy the privilege of poverty. Transfers made under this law are exempt from any tax. Article 13. The declaration of absence of enforced disappearance shall not be considered for the purpose of the criminal prescription, nor for any other civil or criminal effect other than those regulated in this law. And because I have had to approve and sanction it; therefore, promulgate and take effect as the Law of the Republic. Santiago, 25 August 2009.-MICHELLE BACHELET, President of the Republic.-José Antonio Viera-Gallo Quesney, Secretary General of the Presidency.-Edmundo Pérez Yoma, Minister of the Interior.-Carlos Maldonado Curti, Minister of Justice. What I transcribe to you for your knowledge.-Saluda Atté. to Ud., Eduardo Riveros Marin, Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency.