P.R. Laws tit. 30, § 2704

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 2704. Summary procedure—Demand for payment by notary or by letter; procedure to follow when person is summoned

A notarial demand for payment or one made by letter mentioned in § 2703 of this title shall be made in the following way:

If the person to be summoned is an adult, the payment order shall be sent to him or to his agent if he is empowered to pay his debts, to represent him in a trial or to receive notifications.

If he is a minor, 14 years of age or older, he shall be summoned by notary or by mail in the manner previously indicated and, in addition, his father or mother with patria potestas, or his guardian, shall be summoned. If they are not in Puerto Rico, any person who has charge of or cares for the minor, or with whom he lives, shall be summoned instead.

If he is less than 14 years of age, the notarial demand or letter must be made in his name and mailed to the parent with patria potestas or to his guardian; if they are not in Puerto Rico, it shall be addressed, instead, to any person in charge of the minor or who cares for him, or with whom he lives.

If the debtor or third owner is declared legally incompetent and a guardian is named, the demand or mail dispatch shall be made instead to his guardian; and if he should be confined in an institution for the treatment of mental illnesses, the summons or dispatch must also be sent to the director of the institution.

If the creditor knows that the person to be served is demented, or a deaf-mute who does not know how to read or write, suffers from mental retardation, or lacks the faculty of understanding or reasoning to such a degree that it impedes him/her from understanding what is being served to him/her or from acting in his/her defense, or if the person is a mental incompetent of any kind whose disability has not been judicially declared, and if that condition is notoriously and publicly known, he/she shall be served, or it shall be delivered to him/her personally, and also to his/her spouse, if he/she has one, or to his/her father, mother, child over 14 years of age, or to his other closest relative, or to the person who has custody of him/her.

If he is confined in a penal institution, the summons shall be delivered only in notarial form, and in the presence of the director or assistant director of the institution or of the public employee who may then be taking their place.

If it is a corporation, company, association or any other corporate body, the notarial summons or the mail delivery shall be made, in its name, either to the resident agent, to a director or administrative official, general agent, managing partner, or to any other person legally authorized to be summoned notarially for payment, or by mail, as indicated.

History —Mortgage Law, 1979, § 204; June 14, 1980, No. 143, p. 535; Dec. 14, 1997, No. 142, § 1.