In short
Before touching a single good of the estate, the executor must guarantee they will answer for what they do. Article 1756 says it: the person designated as executor must post a bond for the amount fixed by the testator or the court, to answer for the acts performed in discharging their office. And it adds that fixing the bond does not prevent requiring other guarantees necessary to protect the goods of the inheritance: it is a floor, not a ceiling. Article 1757 opens two routes to exempt them, and the second is the most misread. The first is simple: the testator may exempt the executor from the obligation to post a bond. The second says the majority of the interested parties of legal age and with capacity may also exempt them, but attaches an immediate condition: in that case, the bond must be proportional to the interest of the minors or incapacitated persons who cannot sign the exemption. That is, when there are minors or incapacitated persons among the interested parties, that exemption does not erase the bond: it shrinks it to their share. “The majority waived it” is not the same as “there is no bond”. Article 1758 sets the practical consequence: the executor may not enter into possession of their office without having posted the bond, unless they establish having been exempted. Article 1759 lets the bond move while the office lasts: it may be increased or decreased according to the degree of difficulty the executor experiences in managing the estate and according to the values in which it was constituted. And Article 1760 marks the end: the bond may not be cancelled in full until the executor’s final account is approved. Note “in full”: what the article forbids is complete cancellation before that approval, not any reduction, which the previous article expressly allows. What these five articles do not carry is any figure or percentage, or the form the bond must take, or who counts as an interested party, or how that final account is rendered and approved: that is the next section of the same Title, not read for this batch.
What is it?
They are Articles 1756 to 1760 of the Civil Code of 2020: the bond an estate’s executor must post, who fixes it, who may exempt them, and when it is modified or cancelled.
Who can do it?
Whoever was designated albacea, administrator or contador partidor of an estate, and the parties interested in that estate.
Requirements
- The executor must post a bond for the amount fixed by the testator or the court.Verified against the official source
- Fixing the bond does not prevent requiring other guarantees necessary to protect the goods of the inheritance.Verified against the official source
- If the majority of interested parties exempt, the bond must be proportional to the interest of the minors or incapacitated persons who cannot sign the exemption.Verified against the official source
- The executor may not enter into possession of their office without having posted the bond, unless they establish having been exempted.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: It is not the contract suretyship
Suretyship as a contract is in Book Five and has its own guides here. This is the bond an estate’s executor posts, and it is not criminal bail either.
Step 2: Who fixes the amount
Article 1756: the testator or the court. The article gives no figure or percentage, and this guide does not invent one.
Step 3: What it answers for
To answer for the acts performed in discharging their office.
Step 4: The bond is a floor
Second paragraph of 1756: fixing it does not prevent requiring other guarantees necessary to protect the goods of the inheritance.
Step 5: The testator may exempt
Article 1757, first route: the testator may exempt the executor from the obligation to post a bond.
Step 6: And the majority of interested parties too
Second route: the majority of interested parties of legal age and with capacity may exempt them.
Step 7: But if there are minors, the bond shrinks
The same article: in that case the bond must be proportional to the interest of the minors or incapacitated persons who cannot sign the exemption. It does not vanish.
Step 8: No bond, no start
Article 1758: the executor may not enter into possession of their office without having posted the bond, unless they establish having been exempted.
Step 9: The bond may move
Article 1759: it may be increased or decreased during the discharge of the office, according to the degree of difficulty in managing the estate and the values in which it was constituted.
Step 10: When it is cancelled in full
Article 1760: the bond may not be cancelled in full until the executor’s final account is approved.
Step 11: Cancelling is not reducing
Article 1760 says “in full”. It bars complete cancellation before the final account, not the decreases Article 1759 allows along the way.
Step 12: What these articles do not carry
No figure or percentage, nor the form the bond must take, nor who counts as an interested party, nor how the final account is rendered and approved: that is the next section of the same Title, not read for this batch.
Where to do it
Article 1756 places fixing the amount with the testator or the court, but the Code does not say before which court it is requested, in what form, at what fee or how long it takes. Nor does it say who requests the increase or decrease of Article 1759. This guide does not assume it.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If you are one of the interested parties and are told the majority exempted the executor from posting a bond, check whether there are minors or incapacitated persons among the interested parties. Article 1757 does not allow a full exemption in that case: the bond must be proportional to the interest of those who could not sign it. If the executor has already started acting without posting a bond and without an established exemption, Article 1758 says they may not enter into possession of the office. If the bond turned out too small or too large because the estate proved harder or simpler than expected, Article 1759 allows increasing or decreasing it during the office. And if the executor asks to have it cancelled, Article 1760 bars full cancellation until their final account is approved. What you will not find here is a figure: the Code fixes no amount or percentage and refers to the testator or the court. Nor does it describe how that final account is rendered, which is in the next section of the same Title and was not read for this batch. This bond is not the suretyship contract of Book Five nor criminal bail. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Reading the majority’s exemption as erasing the bond: with minors or incapacitated persons it must be proportional to their interest.
- Believing the Code fixes an amount: the testator or the court fixes it, and the text gives no figures.
- Thinking the bond is the ceiling of guarantees: Article 1756 allows requiring others.
- Letting the executor act with no bond and no established exemption: Article 1758 forbids it.
- Assuming the bond stays fixed: Article 1759 allows increasing or decreasing it during the office.
- Confusing reducing with cancelling: Article 1760 only bars full cancellation before the final account.
- Requesting full cancellation before the executor’s final account is approved.
- Confusing this bond with the suretyship contract of Book Five or with criminal bail.
Frequently asked questions
Must the albacea post a bond?
Article 1756 says the person designated as executor must post a bond for the amount fixed by the testator or the court.
May they be exempted?
Article 1757 says the testator may exempt them, and so may the majority of interested parties of legal age and with capacity, in which case the bond must be proportional to the interest of the minors or incapacitated persons who cannot sign the exemption.
May they start acting before posting it?
Article 1758 says the executor may not enter into possession of their office without having posted the bond, unless they establish having been exempted.
When is the bond cancelled?
Article 1760 says it may not be cancelled in full until the executor’s final account is approved.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 11, 2026
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Did you find out-of-date information?
The office is voluntary, yet staying silent fifteen days after being asked accepts it
Article 1750 of the Civil Code of 2020 calls the office of executor voluntary and 1751 creates a legal acceptance by the passing of fifteen days.
If several executors are named without saying how they act, joint action is presumed
Article 1735 of the Civil Code of 2020 sets that presumption, and 1729 bars the person declared unworthy and the disinherited from the office.
An albacea may not sell estate goods unless the testator authorised it
Article 1741 of the Civil Code of 2020 leaves two routes without that authorisation: the heirs’ unanimous consent or judicial authorisation.
A creditor with written title may request an administrator be named for the estate
Article 1744 of the Civil Code of 2020 allows it, alongside the albacea, the forced heirs and the heirs or legatees.
Standing surety: never more than the debtor, but costs are included
Article 1475 bars the surety from owing more than the debtor, and 1474 folds accessories, costs and fees into the suretyship.
The funeral, the inventory and the executor’s pay come out of the estate
Article 1589 of the Civil Code of 2020 lists six hereditary charges, and the sixth leaves the list open: the other expenses of an analogous nature.