Which deals must be put in a document, and the one the law forbids

It is Chapter III of Title I of Book Five of the Civil Code of 2020, Articles 1244 to 1246. It deals with two elements of a contract: what may be its object — including what does not yet exist or is not yours — and which deals must be put in writing.

Anyone entering into one of the five contracts in Article 1245, or contracting over a future or another’s property. Nobody may contract over a future inheritance: it is forbidden.

• That the contract over a future or another’s property meet the requirements of object described in Chapter Two of Title Four of Book One of the Code.Verified against the official source
• That whoever promises a future or another’s thing use their greatest diligence for it to come into existence or enter their patrimony.Verified against the official source
• That the five acts in Article 1245 appear in a public or private instrument, for evidentiary purposes.Verified against the official source

• The public or private instrument recording the acts Article 1245 lists: it is what the law asks for evidentiary purposes.

1. 1

   Step 1: You can sell what does not yet exist

   Article 1244 admits it: a contract whose object is a future or another’s property is valid if it meets the requirements of object described in Chapter Two of Title Four of Book One of this Code. Those requirements live in another book and we did not read them for this guide.

2. 2

   Step 2: And what kind of contract results

   The same article classifies it by who bears the risk: the contract over a future or another’s thing is aleatory if the existence of the thing is not guaranteed; otherwise it is commutative and conditional. If you guarantee it will exist, you stop gambling.

3. 3

   Step 3: What is required of whoever promises

   Article 1244 does not leave the promisor idle: the person who promises a future or another’s thing must use their greatest diligence for it to come into existence or enter their patrimony. And if the contract aims to transfer ownership of another’s thing, it will be only a title for a new acquisition, occurring when the transferor acquires the thing and complies with the mode corresponding to it.

4. 4

   Step 4: What cannot be contracted

   A five-word sentence closes the article: a contract on a future inheritance is prohibited. No nuance and no conditions; the Code forbids it, full stop.

5. 5

   Step 5: The five that must be put in writing

   Article 1245 lists them, and says what for: for evidentiary purposes. They are the creation, transmission, modification or extinction of real rights over immovables; the lease of immovables for six years or more; the assignment or waiver of hereditary rights or of those of the conjugal partnership; the power of attorney to be presented in court, the power to administer property, and powers affecting third parties’ rights; and the assignment of rights or actions arising from an act recorded in a public document.

6. 6

   Step 6: Six years is the lease threshold

   Subsection (b) draws the line without ambiguity: the lease of immovables for six years or more. Six years is in; less than six does not fall on this list. The figure is the statute’s.

7. 7

   Step 7: And what requires a solemn form goes by another law

   The last paragraph of Article 1245 refers out: acts, juridical acts and contracts for which the law requires a solemn form are governed by that law. We did not read those laws, so this guide names no contract as void for lack of a deed: the list above is what the Code asks for evidentiary purposes, which is a different thing.

8. 8

   Step 8: If the other side refuses to sign

   Article 1246 gives the remedy: in the case of the preceding article, the contracting parties may reciprocally compel each other to execute the formality required for the effectiveness of a valid contract, and may join the action for contractual performance. That is, the signature and the performance can be sought in the same case.

The public instrument is executed before a notary, whose rules we did not read here. The action to compel execution of the formality is filed before the Court of First Instance. The Code names no agency here.

• Believing you cannot contract over something that does not yet exist: the Code admits it if the object meets the requirements.
• Promising a future thing and doing nothing: the greatest diligence must be used for it to come into existence or enter the patrimony.
• Treating ownership of another’s thing as transferred on signature alone: it is only a title for a new acquisition.
• Signing a contract over a future inheritance: it is forbidden.
• Leaving undocumented a lease of an immovable for six years or more.
• Granting orally a power to administer property or one affecting third parties’ rights.
• Confusing the instrument Article 1245 asks for evidentiary purposes with the solemn form other statutes require.
• Being left without a signature when the other side refuses: Article 1246 allows compelling each other and joining the performance action.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov