diff --git a/src/classes/class-tainacan-bulk-edit.php b/src/classes/class-tainacan-bulk-edit.php
index 8a1222aba..04cd155db 100644
--- a/src/classes/class-tainacan-bulk-edit.php
+++ b/src/classes/class-tainacan-bulk-edit.php
@@ -439,26 +439,32 @@ class Bulk_Edit  {
 	private function _add_value(Entities\Metadatum $metadatum, $value) {
 		global $wpdb;
 		$type = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_object();
+		$taxRepo = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
 
 		if ($type->get_primitive_type() == 'term') {
 
 			$options = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_options();
 			$taxonomy_id = $options['taxonomy_id'];
-			$tax = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance()->fetch($taxonomy_id);
+			$tax = $taxRepo->fetch($taxonomy_id);
 
 			if ($tax instanceof Entities\Taxonomy) {
 
-				$term = term_exists($value, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+				$term = $taxRepo->term_exists($tax, $value, 0, true);
+				$term_id = false;
 
-				if (!is_array($term)) {
+				if (false === $term) {
 					$term = wp_insert_term($value, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+					if (is_WP_Error($term) || !isset($term['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
+						return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Error adding term', 'tainacan' ) );
+					}
+					$term_id = $term['term_taxonomy_id'];
+				} else {
+					$term_id = $term->term_taxonomy_id;
 				}
 
-				if (is_WP_Error($term) || !isset($term['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
-					return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Error adding term', 'tainacan' ) );
-				}
+				
 
-				$insert_q = $this->_build_select( $wpdb->prepare("post_id, %d", $term['term_taxonomy_id']) );
+				$insert_q = $this->_build_select( $wpdb->prepare("post_id, %d", $term_id) );
 
 				$query = "INSERT IGNORE INTO $wpdb->term_relationships (object_id, term_taxonomy_id) $insert_q";
 
@@ -506,28 +512,29 @@ class Bulk_Edit  {
 	private function _remove_value(Entities\Metadatum $metadatum, $value) {
 		global $wpdb;
 		$type = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_object();
+		$taxRepo = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
 
 		if ($type->get_primitive_type() == 'term') {
 
 			$options = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_options();
 			$taxonomy_id = $options['taxonomy_id'];
-			$tax = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance()->fetch($taxonomy_id);
+			$tax = $taxRepo->fetch($taxonomy_id);
 
 			if ($tax instanceof Entities\Taxonomy) {
 
-				$term = term_exists($value, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+				$term = $taxRepo->term_exists($tax, $value, null, true);
 
 				if (!$term) {
 					return 0;
 				}
 
-				if (is_WP_Error($term) || !isset($term['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
+				if ( !isset($term->term_taxonomy_id) ) {
 					return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Term not found', 'tainacan' ) );
 				}
 
 				$delete_q = $this->_build_select( "post_id" );
 
-				$query = $wpdb->prepare( "DELETE FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d AND object_id IN ($delete_q)", $term['term_taxonomy_id'] );
+				$query = $wpdb->prepare( "DELETE FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d AND object_id IN ($delete_q)", $term->term_taxonomy_id );
 
 				return $wpdb->query($query);
 
@@ -566,42 +573,48 @@ class Bulk_Edit  {
 			return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'New value and old value can not be the same', 'tainacan' ) );
 		}
 		
+		$taxRepo = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
 		$type = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_object();
 
 		if ($type->get_primitive_type() == 'term') {
 
 			$options = $metadatum->get_metadata_type_options();
 			$taxonomy_id = $options['taxonomy_id'];
-			$tax = Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance()->fetch($taxonomy_id);
+			$tax = $taxRepo->fetch($taxonomy_id);
 
 			if ($tax instanceof Entities\Taxonomy) {
 
 				// check old term
-				$term = term_exists($value, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+				$term = $taxRepo->term_exists($tax, $value, null, true);
 
 				if (!$term) {
 					return 0;
 				}
 
-				if (is_WP_Error($term) || !isset($term['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
+				if (is_WP_Error($term) || !isset($term->term_taxonomy_id)) {
 					return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Term not found', 'tainacan' ) );
 				}
 				
 				// check new term
-				$newterm = term_exists($newvalue, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+				$newterm = $taxRepo->term_exists($tax, $newvalue, 0, true);
+				
 
-				if (!is_array($newterm)) {
+				if (false === $newterm) {
 					$newterm = wp_insert_term($newvalue, $tax->get_db_identifier());
+					if (is_WP_Error($newterm) || !isset($newterm['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
+						return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Error adding term', 'tainacan' ) );
+					}
+					$newtermid = $newterm['term_taxonomy_id'];
+				} else {
+					$newtermid = $newterm->term_taxonomy_id;
 				}
 
-				if (is_WP_Error($newterm) || !isset($newterm['term_taxonomy_id'])) {
-					return new \WP_Error( 'error', __( 'Error adding term', 'tainacan' ) );
-				}
+				
 
-				$insert_q = $this->_build_select( $wpdb->prepare("post_id, %d", $newterm['term_taxonomy_id']) );
+				$insert_q = $this->_build_select( $wpdb->prepare("post_id, %d", $newtermid) );
 				
 				// only where old_value is present (this is what this method have different from the _add_value())
-				$insert_q .= $wpdb->prepare( " AND post_id IN(SELECT object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d)", $term['term_taxonomy_id'] );
+				$insert_q .= $wpdb->prepare( " AND post_id IN(SELECT object_id FROM $wpdb->term_relationships WHERE term_taxonomy_id = %d)", $term->term_taxonomy_id );
 				
 				$query = "INSERT IGNORE INTO $wpdb->term_relationships (object_id, term_taxonomy_id) $insert_q ";
 				
diff --git a/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php b/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
index 8adc445b5..0340334d9 100644
--- a/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
+++ b/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
@@ -196,5 +196,19 @@ class Taxonomy extends Entity {
 		return parent::validate();
 
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	* Check if a term already exists 
+	*
+	* @param string $term_name The term name 
+	* @param int|null $parent The ID of the parent term to look for children or null to look for terms in any hierarchical position. Default is null 
+	* @param bool $return_term wether to return the term object if it exists. default is to false 
+	* 
+	* @return bool|WP_Term return boolean indicating if term exists. If $return_term is true and term exists, return WP_Term object 
+	*/
+	function term_exists($term_name, $parent = null, $return_term = false) {
+		$repo = $this->get_repository();
+		return $repo->term_exists($this, $term_name, $parent, $return_term);
+	}
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-term.php b/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-term.php
index 57ba881c9..2f7b4c3b5 100644
--- a/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-term.php
+++ b/src/classes/entities/class-tainacan-term.php
@@ -217,41 +217,18 @@ class Term extends Entity {
 		$parent = $this->get_parent();
 		$name = $this->get_name();
 		$taxonomy = $this->get_taxonomy();
-
-		/**
-		 * Code from WordPress Core, taxonomy.php#2070
-		 */
-
-		/*
-		* Prevent the creation of terms with duplicate names at the same level of a taxonomy hierarchy,
-		* unless a unique slug has been explicitly provided.
-		*/
-		$name_matches = get_terms( $taxonomy, array(
-			'name'       => $name,
-			'hide_empty' => false,
-			'parent'     => $parent,
-			'exclude'    => $this->get_id()
-		) );
-
-		/*
-		* The `name` match in `get_terms()` doesn't differentiate accented characters,
-		* so we do a stricter comparison here.
-		*/
-		$name_match = null;
-		if ( $name_matches ) {
-			foreach ( $name_matches as $_match ) {
-				if ( is_object($_match) && isset($_match) && strtolower( $name ) === strtolower( $_match->name ) ) {
-					$name_match = $_match;
-					break;
-				}
+		
+		$repo = $this->get_repository();
+		
+		$term_exists = $repo->term_exists($name, $taxonomy, $parent, true);
+		
+		if (false !== $term_exists) {
+			if ($this->get_id() != $term_exists->term_taxonomy_id) {
+				$this->add_error( 'repeated', __('You can not have two terms with the same name at the same level', 'tainacan') );
+				return false;
 			}
 		}
 
-		if ($name_match) {
-			$this->add_error( 'repeated', __('You can not have two terms with the same name at the same level', 'tainacan') );
-			return false;
-		}
-
 		$this->set_as_valid();
 		return true;
 
diff --git a/src/classes/metadata-types/taxonomy/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php b/src/classes/metadata-types/taxonomy/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
index 56b20a667..d77c827f6 100644
--- a/src/classes/metadata-types/taxonomy/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
+++ b/src/classes/metadata-types/taxonomy/class-tainacan-taxonomy.php
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ class Taxonomy extends Metadata_Type {
 					$term = $term->get_id();
 				}
 				
+				// TODO term_exists is not fully reliable. Use $terms_repository->term_exists. see issue #159
 				if (!term_exists($term)) {
 					$valid = false;
 					break;
diff --git a/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-taxonomies.php b/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-taxonomies.php
index 79844c133..3e83e0973 100644
--- a/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-taxonomies.php
+++ b/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-taxonomies.php
@@ -343,6 +343,21 @@ class Taxonomies extends Repository {
 		$prefix = Entities\Taxonomy::$db_identifier_prefix;
 		return $prefix . $id;
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	* Check if a term already exists 
+	*
+	* @param Entities\Taxonomy $taxonomy The taxonomy object where to look for terms
+	* @param string $term_name The term name 
+	* @param int|null $parent The ID of the parent term to look for children or null to look for terms in any hierarchical position. Default is null 
+	* @param bool $return_term wether to return the term object if it exists. default is to false 
+	* 
+	* @return bool|WP_Term return boolean indicating if term exists. If $return_term is true and term exists, return WP_Term object 
+	*/
+	public function term_exists(Entities\Taxonomy $taxonomy, $term_name, $parent = null, $return_term = false) {
+		$TermsRepo = Terms::get_instance();
+		return $TermsRepo->term_exists($term_name, $taxonomy, $parent, $return_term);
+	}
 
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-terms.php b/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-terms.php
index b3680fd4a..70bbbc946 100644
--- a/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-terms.php
+++ b/src/classes/repositories/class-tainacan-terms.php
@@ -265,6 +265,54 @@ class Terms extends Repository {
 
 		return $deleted;
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	* Check if a term already exists 
+	*
+	* @param string $term_name The term name 
+	* @param mixed $taxonomy The taxonomy ID, slug or Entity.
+	* @param int $parent The ID of the parent term to look for children or null to look for terms in any hierarchical position. Default is null 
+	* @param bool $return_term wether to return the term object if it exists. default is to false 
+	* 
+	* @return bool|WP_Term return boolean indicating if term exists. If $return_term is true and term exists, return WP_Term object 
+	*/
+	public function term_exists($name, $taxonomy, $parent = null, $return_term = false) {
+		
+		$Tainacan_Taxonomies = \Tainacan\Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
+
+		if ( is_numeric( $taxonomy ) ) {
+			$taxonomy_slug = $Tainacan_Taxonomies->get_db_identifier_by_id( $taxonomy );
+		} elseif (is_string($taxonomy)) {
+			$taxonomy_slug = $taxonomy;
+		} elseif ( $taxonomy instanceof Entities\Taxonomy ) {
+			$taxonomy_slug = $taxonomy->get_db_identifier();
+		}
+		
+		$args = [
+			'name' => $name, 
+			'taxonomy' => $taxonomy_slug, 
+			'parent' => $parent, 
+			'hide_empty' => 0, 
+			'suppress_filter' => true
+		];
+		
+		if (is_null($parent)) {
+			unset($args['parent']);
+		}
+		
+		$terms = get_terms($args);
+		
+		if (empty($terms)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+		
+		if ($return_term) {
+			return $terms[0];
+		}
+		
+		return true;
+		
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * @param $term_id
diff --git a/src/importer/class-tainacan-csv.php b/src/importer/class-tainacan-csv.php
index 621c296ff..dbc83721c 100644
--- a/src/importer/class-tainacan-csv.php
+++ b/src/importer/class-tainacan-csv.php
@@ -663,9 +663,9 @@ class CSV extends Importer {
 					$this->add_error_log('Malformed term hierarchy for Item ' . $this->get_current_collection_item() . '. Term skipped. Value: ' . $values);
 					return false;
                 }
-                $exists = term_exists( $value ,$taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), $parent );
-                if (0 !== $exists && null !== $exists && isset($exists['term_id'])) {
-					$parent = $exists['term_id'];
+                $exists = $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists( $value ,$taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), $parent, true );
+                if (false !== $exists && isset($exists->term_taxonomy_id)) {
+					$parent = $exists->term_taxonomy_id;
                 } else {
 					$this->add_log('New term created: ' . $value . ' in tax_id: ' . $taxonomy->get_db_identifier() . '; parent: ' . $parent);
                     $term = new Entities\Term();
diff --git a/tests/test-taxonomies.php b/tests/test-taxonomies.php
index 939cbae70..2a0d6fb40 100644
--- a/tests/test-taxonomies.php
+++ b/tests/test-taxonomies.php
@@ -105,5 +105,151 @@ class Taxonomies extends TAINACAN_UnitTestCase {
 		
 		$this->assertEquals(1, sizeof($terms), 'you should be able to create a term even if the taxonomy is still auto-draft');
 		
+	}
+	
+	function test_term_exists() {
+		
+		$taxonomy = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+        	'taxonomy',
+	        array(
+	        	'name'         => 'genero',
+		        'description'  => 'tipos de musica',
+		        'allow_insert' => 'yes',
+				'status'       => 'publish'
+	        ),
+	        true
+        );
+		
+		$Tainacan_Taxonomies = \Tainacan\Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
+		$Tainacan_Terms = \Tainacan\Repositories\Terms::get_instance();
+		
+		$term = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Rock',
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$parent = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Parent',
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$child = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Child',
+				'parent'   => $parent->get_id()
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$this->assertFalse( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Reggae', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier()) );
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Rock', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier()) );
+		
+		//var_dump( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Rock', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), 0, true) );
+		
+		// test extreme case 
+		
+		$term_2 = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'test 123',
+				'parent'   => $term->get_id()
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$this->assertFalse( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('test 123', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), 0) ); // parent 0
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('test    123', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), $term->get_id()) ); // spaces in between
+		
+		// testing passing taxonomy object 
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Rock', $taxonomy) );
+		
+		// testing passing ID
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Rock', $taxonomy->get_id()) );
+		
+		// testing via Taxonomy object
+		$this->assertTrue( $taxonomy->term_exists('Rock') );
+		
+		// testing retrieving the term 
+		$this->assertTrue( $taxonomy->term_exists('Rock', 0, true) instanceof \WP_Term );
+		$this->assertEquals( $term->get_id(), $taxonomy->term_exists('Rock', 0, true)->term_taxonomy_id );
+		
+		// test parent 
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Child', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier()) ); // parent null
+		$this->assertFalse( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Child', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), 0) ); // parent 0
+		$this->assertTrue( $Tainacan_Terms->term_exists('Child', $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(), $parent->get_id()) ); // parent 
+		
+	}
+	
+	function test_term_validation() {
+		
+		$taxonomy = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+        	'taxonomy',
+	        array(
+	        	'name'         => 'genero',
+		        'description'  => 'tipos de musica',
+		        'allow_insert' => 'yes',
+				'status'       => 'publish'
+	        ),
+	        true
+        );
+		
+		$Tainacan_Taxonomies = \Tainacan\Repositories\Taxonomies::get_instance();
+		$Tainacan_Terms = \Tainacan\Repositories\Terms::get_instance();
+		
+		$term = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Rock',
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$parent = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Parent',
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$child = $this->tainacan_entity_factory->create_entity(
+		    'term',
+		    array(
+			    'taxonomy' => $taxonomy->get_db_identifier(),
+			    'name'     => 'Child',
+				'parent'   => $parent->get_id()
+		    ),
+		    true
+	    );
+		
+		$newTerm = new \Tainacan\Entities\Term();
+		$newTerm->set_name('Child');
+		$newTerm->set_taxonomy($taxonomy->get_db_identifier());
+		
+		$this->assertTrue( $newTerm->validate() );
+		
+		$newTerm->set_parent($parent->get_id());
+		
+		$this->assertFalse( $newTerm->validate(), 'term should not validate because it has a duplicate in the same level' );
+		
+		$child->set_description('changed');
+		
+		$this->assertTrue( $child->validate(), 'child should validate');
+		
+		
+		
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file