Requesting support for an older adult

It is the path Act 168-2000 opens to fix or enforce an older adult’s support pension without starting at court. It has a very accessible entrance — the request for services, which counts even by telephone — and a stage of voluntary administrative mediation. The court remains the second stretch, for when mediation does not gel or what was agreed is not complied with, and there the Assistant Advocate for the Support of Older Adults steps in as the older person’s legal representative.

Article 13 does not require the applicant to be the older adult. It counts as a request for services when made by the alimentista themselves, through their legal representative, by a law-enforcement agent, by a public or private agency or instrumentality, by a guardian, by a public official or by any private person interested in that person’s support. And it also counts as the request of an alimentante wanting other obliged parties ordered to provide support, where the applicant is already providing and wants compliance with the obligation levelled or equitably distributed. For mediation, Article 14 adds a substantive condition: the parties have the power to decide whether or not to submit to that process.

• A request for services is considered made when received by Programme officials by telephone or by visiting the local office nearest the applicant’s residence (Article 13(4)).Verified against the official source
• Where legal representation services are needed, the Administrator shall designate the Assistant Advocate for the Support of Older Adults as legal representative in the older adult’s best interest (Article 13(4)).Verified against the official source
• The Administrator prepares and provides the parties a form on the alimentante’s economic and non-economic capacity and the older adult’s needs, completed with a certified affirmation of the truthfulness of the information (Article 14(A)).Verified against the official source
• Submitting the form is voluntary and does not relieve the parties of their continuing obligation to supply any other information enabling a mediation agreement (Article 14(A)).Verified against the official source
• Once the agreement between the parties is established it shall be considered final and may only be reviewed after three (3) years, unless circumstances requiring modification of the previous agreements concur (Article 14(B)).Verified against the official source
• Information offered in the mediation process is confidential and privileged, cannot be required in judicial or administrative proceedings, and the mediator cannot be required to testify about its content or the process (Article 14(D)).Verified against the official source

• The form the Administrator provides on the alimentante’s economic and non-economic capacity and the older adult’s needs, with certified affirmation (Article 14(A)).
• The agreement or stipulation on the support pension, submitted for the Administrator’s approval (Article 14(B)).

1. 1

   Step 1: A phone call counts as a request

   This is the most useful thing in Article 13 and it usually goes unnoticed. After listing who may apply, subsection (4) closes with this: for the purposes of this Article, a request for services received by Programme officials by telephone or by visiting the local office nearest their residence shall be considered as made. Two routes, and one of them requires no leaving the house, which matters when the person needing support has mobility problems. The same Act adds that the Administrator, with the Secretary’s assent, must adopt regulation governing the mechanism for corroborating requests made by telephone; we did not read that regulation.

2. 2

   Step 2: Who may file it

   Article 13 counts two classes of request. The first: any request made by an alimentista themselves, through their legal representative, by a law-enforcement agent, a public or private agency or instrumentality, a guardian, a public official or any private person interested in that person’s support. The second: the request of an alimentante wanting other obliged alimentantes ordered to provide support, where the applicant is already providing for that ascendant’s support and wants compliance with the obligation levelled or equitably distributed among one or several alimentantes. The first is the route of the older person and whoever accompanies them; the second is the route of the child carrying it alone.

3. 3

   Step 3: What the Programme must protect

   Article 13(3)(a) imposes on the Programme safeguards against unauthorised use or disclosure of information, and they are worth knowing because they address concrete fears. No information about a party’s whereabouts shall be disclosed to another party against whom a protection order has been issued regarding the first. No whereabouts information shall be disclosed if the Programme has reasonable grounds to believe disclosing it could result in physical or emotional harm to the first party. Financial institution records are disclosed only for the sole purpose and to the extent necessary to establish, modify or enforce a support obligation. Income tax information is not disclosed contrary to Section 6103 of the federal Internal Revenue Code. No employee accesses or exchanges information beyond what their functions require. And nothing is disclosed where it would violate other federal or state legislation. Subsection (b) requires administrative sanctions, including dismissal, for unauthorised access or disclosure.

4. 4

   Step 4: Mediation is voluntary

   Article 14(A) says it twice, at two levels. First about the paperwork: the Administrator shall prepare and provide the parties a form to obtain information on the alimentante’s economic and non-economic capacity and the older adult’s needs, to be completed with a certified affirmation of the truthfulness of the information offered; and submitting the form is voluntary, though it does not relieve the parties of their continuing obligation to supply any other information enabling an agreement. Then about the whole process: the parties have the power to decide whether or not to submit to this process. The purpose the Act assigns it is to promote the alimentante’s and alimentista’s participation in resolving their conflicts and their taking responsibility for complying with the agreements reached. The procedure is governed by the Manual of Norms and Procedures of the Judicial Branch’s Conflict Mediation Centres approved by the Supreme Court, Act 19-1983 and the Regulation on Alternative Methods for Conflict Resolution; we read none of those three.

5. 5

   Step 5: The agreement, and the three years

   Article 14(B) is short and has long consequences. When the parties reach an agreement or stipulation on a support pension for older adults, it shall be submitted to the Administrator for approval. And once the agreement between the parties is established, it shall be considered final and may only be reviewed after three years, unless circumstances requiring modification of the previous agreements concur. Read that before signing: three years is the ordinary term for reviewing it, and the early exit depends on circumstances requiring it concurring. Follow-up on compliance is done through interagency coordination. And if someone fails to comply, the Act itself offers an intermediate step before court: any affected party may request that, within the administrative mediation procedure, the parties be summoned to seek voluntary compliance, without needing to resort to the judicial procedure.

6. 6

   Step 6: The five doors to court

   Article 14(C) lists them. The case shall be referred to the Assistant Advocate for Older Adults to represent the alimentista and file with the Court a formal petition for support or for compliance with mediation agreements in five situations. One, when the parties reach no agreement. Two, when either party decides not to submit to the administrative mediation procedure. Three, when the mediator determines the administrative mediation mechanism does not lie. Four, when an agreement having been established within the administrative mediation procedure, and the mechanisms for achieving voluntary compliance exhausted, that agreement is breached. Five, when a stipulation between the parties having been established, it is breached. Note that refusing to mediate does not close the case: it sends it to court.

7. 7

   Step 7: What is said in mediation stays there

   Article 14(D) protects the process. Information offered by participants in the mediation process shall be confidential and privileged, and so shall all the documents and working files of the mediator’s office. That information or documentation may not be required in judicial or administrative proceedings, nor may the mediator be required to testify about its content or about the process conducted before them. Each party must keep confidential the information received. In judicial or administrative proceedings, the views, suggestions or admissions made by any participant regarding possible agreements during the sessions shall not be used or presented as evidence. And if any party or their lawyers reveal all or part of that information without written authorisation, the court may impose the sanctions it deems appropriate. The text adds that the rule does not apply in cases where a duty to report exists; that is as far as what we read goes.

8. 8

   Step 8: Disclosing information here is a crime

   Article 11(e) closes the protection with a penalty. The information obtained shall be confidential and used only for the purposes this Act authorises. Any person who discloses, publicises, makes use of, or instigates the use of any information obtained under that article’s provisions shall commit a misdemeanour, and on conviction shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or both at the court’s discretion. And it adds that any employee or official who through carelessness, action or omission discloses, offers or publishes any confidential information shall also be subject to the corresponding disciplinary actions.

Before the Programme for the Support of Older Adults, by telephone or by visiting the local office nearest your residence: Article 13(4) recognises both as a request for services made. If legal representation is needed, the Administrator designates the Assistant Advocate for the Support of Older Adults. Mediation is conducted under the Manual of the Judicial Branch’s Conflict Mediation Centres. The court comes in through any of the five situations of Article 14(C). The Act publishes no addresses, telephones, forms or portals, and we do not guess government internet addresses.

• Believing you must go in person: Article 13(4) recognises a request received by telephone as made.
• Thinking only the older adult may apply: any private person interested in their support may too.
• Assuming mediation is compulsory: the parties have the power to decide whether or not to submit.
• Believing refusing to mediate closes the case: it is one of the five situations that send it to court.
• Signing the agreement without checking the term: it is considered final and only reviewed after three years, save circumstances requiring modification.
• Going straight to court when the other party breaches: the Act allows first requesting, within mediation, an appearance to seek voluntary compliance.
• Using in court what was said in mediation: it is confidential and privileged, and the court may sanction whoever reveals it without written authorisation.
• Fearing your whereabouts will be given to someone with a protection order against them: the Act forbids disclosing it in that situation.
• Expecting the Programme to assign you a lawyer automatically: the Administrator designates the Assistant Advocate when legal representation services are needed.
• Taking submission of the form as compulsory: submitting it is voluntary, though the duty to supply information continues.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Administración para el Sustento de Menores (ASUME)

  ASUME

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov