P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 249
No endorsement on any check or draft of the Secretary of the Treasury by an attorney in fact or agent of the payee of such check or draft, shall be valid unless he/she is specially authorized by a power of attorney duly executed by the payee, or in the case of his/her death, by his/her duly appointed executor or administrator, after the date of issue of the check or draft, in the presence of two (2) subscribing witnesses, and duly acknowledged before a notary public or an officer with the authority to take acknowledgments of deeds. Such power of attorney must state the number, date and amount of the check or draft, as well as the number and class of the warrant on which said check or draft is drawn, and must be filed with the check or draft.
Endorsements by the payee in person must be written by him/her and correspond with the name of the payee as written on the face of the check or draft. If the payee is unable to write his name on the check or draft, the endorsement may be made by his cross-mark thereon in the presence of two (2) attesting witnesses who shall sign their names as such. If the check or draft is payable to a firm or partnership, it must be endorsed in the name of such firm or partnership by an active partner thereof; when payable to a company or corporation, the check or draft must be endorsed by an officer or agent of such company or corporation duly authorized to receive, receipt and endorse in its behalf.
In the case of the death of the payee of any check or draft issued by the Secretary of the Treasury or by a Special Disbursing Officer appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the duly appointed executor or administrator of the decedent, or the judicially declared heirs, upon the prior endorsement by the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico, shall have authority to cash such check or draft. Provided, That in the event no executor or administrator has been appointed for the estate of the said decedent, or that the heirs have not been judicially declared, and that the amount of the check or draft does not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico, as soon as the interested party shall have presented to him a certified copy of the death certificate of the decedent and has duly completed the printed forms required in these cases by the Department of the Treasury, shall endorse the check or draft in favor of the heir or heirs. In event the amount of the check or draft exceeds one thousand dollars ($1,000), no endorsement whatsoever shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury, unless the due declaration of heirship has been made by the Court of First Instance, in lieu thereof; or a will and in the event of the bankruptcy or insolvency of the payee, of the check or draft; the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico may endorse it in favor of the trustee of the estate who has been duly appointed by a competent court. If the check or draft cannot be endorsed in favor of the heir by reason of lunacy or mental incapacity, the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico is authorized to endorse it in favor of such tutor, administrator or executor that has been judicially appointed; and in the event the payee is absent from Puerto Rico, and during such absence only, the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico may endorse the same in favor of his/her agent or attorney in fact especially authorized by power of attorney to transact all business of his/her constituent with the Commonwealth Government and to collect and receive all moneys due by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, during said absence.
The Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico shall require the presentation of attesting evidence that shall empower him/her to proceed with the endorsement, together with the check or draft.
History —Political Code, 1902, § 85; Mar. 11, 1915, No. 28, p. 57, § 1; May 5, 1945, No. 65, p. 242, § 1; Apr. 14, 1949, No. 46, p. 112, § 1; July 16, 1999, No. 150, § 1.