Eviction of veterans, older adults and people with disabilities

It is the 2026 law that added a mandatory stop to the eviction process when the person sued is a veteran, an older adult or has a disability. Before, that stop existed only for a family of proven economic insolvency. Now the court must notify the matching Ombudsman, that Ombudsman has a non-extendable thirty days to tell the court what aid you are entitled to, and the eviction cannot occur before twenty non-extendable days counted from that notice.

The new protection is triggered when it is shown at the hearing that the eviction order is against a veteran, an older adult or a person with a disability. The law sets no age and does not define disability in its text, nor does it require a prior application: the duty to notify is the court’s once the condition is shown at the hearing. Separately, the protection for a family of proven economic insolvency remains in force, with notice to the Departments of the Family and Housing.

• That it be shown at the hearing that the order is against a veteran, an older adult or a person with a disability. The law places the duty to notify on the court from that moment.Verified against the official source
• For the parallel protection: that it be shown at the hearing that the order is against a family of proven economic insolvency.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The hearing goes within ten days

   It is the process’s first clock and worth being clear about because eviction is summary. Once the complaint is filed, “the plaintiff and the defendant shall be summoned to appear, which must be held within the ten (10) days following the one on which the claim is filed.” That hearing is where the condition triggering the protections is shown.

2. 2

   Step 2: Three offices, depending on who you are

   This is the change the law brought and it is the court’s duty, not an errand of yours. “If it is shown at that hearing that the order is against a veteran, an older adult or a person with a disability, the court shall order notice to the Office of the Veteran’s Ombudsman, the Office of the Ombudsman for Older Adults or the Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities, as the case may be, so those entities may orient them and provide the aid that is justified.”

3. 3

   Step 3: The other branch: the family of proven insolvency

   It remains in force and runs in parallel. “If it is shown at that hearing that the order is against a family of proven economic insolvency, the court shall order notice to the Secretaries of the Departments of the Family and Housing, with a copy of the eviction complaint filed. Those agencies shall evaluate the family’s socioeconomic condition and provide the social aid that is justified.”

4. 4

   Step 4: Thirty non-extendable days for the report

   The law does not leave the report to the agency’s pace. “The aforementioned agencies, in accordance with their expertise and as applicable, shall render a report to the court, within a non-extendable term of thirty (30) days, on the aid the family or the particular person is entitled to, and which will be provided.” Non-extendable, and with two contents: what you are entitled to and what will be provided to you.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you are a veteran, the report looks at federal benefits

   The law gives specific content to the Veteran’s Ombudsman report, and it is the most usable fact in the whole piece: “In the case of the Office of the Veteran’s Ombudsman, the report shall focus on the evaluation of eligibility for United States Department of Veterans Affairs benefits in the matter of pensions, compensations or housing vouchers, as well as the status of those procedures.” Pensions, compensations and housing vouchers, plus the status of those procedures.

6. 6

   Step 6: Twenty non-extendable days before the eviction

   Here is the real time the person gains, and the detail is when it starts counting. When the court determines the eviction proceeds against a veteran, an older adult or a person with a disability, “notice with a copy of the judgment shall be given immediately to the Office of the Veteran’s Ombudsman, the Office of the Ombudsman for Older Adults or the Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities, as applicable. In these cases, the term for the eviction shall be twenty (20) non-extendable days, which shall begin counting from the date of that notice.” Not from the judgment: from the notice to the office.

7. 7

   Step 7: Nobody evicts an insolvent family without two officials present

   It is a concrete safeguard and the law describes even who coordinates it. “No eviction of any family of proven economic insolvency may take place unless there is present at the time it is carried out an official of the Department of the Family and of the Department of Housing, designated by the Secretary of that Department respectively, who shall watch over the physical and emotional safety of the evicted family. The Court Marshal shall coordinate that official’s appearance with the agency office nearest the place where the eviction is carried out.”

8. 8

   Step 8: If your housing is subsidised, there is another layer of rules

   The law says it at the close of the article and it is worth knowing before assuming the process is the same: “In those cases where the housing lease is subsidised under the various programmes administered by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing, or any of its dependencies, the applicable regulations governing the eviction process must be complied with.” We do not publish those regulations because we did not read them.

9. 9

   Step 9: The writ does not issue by itself

   A procedural detail the law preserves: “The judgment granting the eviction complaint shall order the defendant’s eviction, once that judgment is final and firm. That writ shall be issued by the Court Clerk at a party’s request, once the judgment is final and firm.” At a party’s request: the eviction is not automatic.

None of this is applied for at an office: they are court duties running inside the eviction suit. What is up to you is that the condition be shown at the hearing, because everything else hangs from that. The offices receiving notice are the Office of the Veteran’s Ombudsman, the Office of the Ombudsman for Older Adults and the Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities, as the case may be, and the Departments of the Family and Housing in the insolvency case. For the eviction process in general — forum, fees and the appeal window, which is short — we have a separate guide.

• Believing the protection is only for insolvent families: since Act 31-2026 it also covers veterans, older adults and people with disabilities.
• Not having the condition shown at the hearing: the notice, the report and the twenty days all hang from it.
• Counting the twenty days from the judgment: the law counts them from the date of notice to the corresponding office.
• Thinking the Ombudsman’s report can be delayed: the law sets a non-extendable thirty (30) days.
• Ignoring the report’s content if you are a veteran: it looks at pensions, compensations and housing vouchers from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and the status of those procedures.
• Accepting an eviction of an insolvent family without Family and Housing officials present: the law forbids it.
• Assuming the eviction is automatic: the writ is issued by the Court Clerk at a party’s request.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov