If they forgave the debt and then sued you, the forgiveness falls

They are Articles 1697, 1698 and 1699 of the Civil Code of 2020: when a legacy made of a credit or a debt pardon falls, how far a general pardon reaches, and what happens when the legatee is also the testator’s creditor.

Any legatee whose debt a will forgives or to whom it leaves a credit, and any creditor of the testator who also appears as a legatee.

• A legacy of a credit or of a condonation of debt is ineffective if the testator files the judicial claim after executing the will.Verified against the official source
• A legacy of general condonation comprises only the debts existing at the moment the will is executed.Verified against the official source
• That limit yields if the testator expressly provides otherwise.Verified against the official source
• A legacy made to a creditor is not imputable as payment of their credit, unless the testator expressly declares it.Verified against the official source
• When they do declare it, the creditor has the right to collect the excess of the credit or of the legacy.Verified against the official source

• The will, with its date of execution: Articles 1697 and 1698 are measured against it.
• The judicial claim filed by the testator, if Article 1697’s ineffectiveness is disputed.
• The credit document, with its date, to know whether it falls inside the general condonation.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check whether a suit came after

   Article 1697: a legacy of a credit or a condonation is ineffective if the testator files the judicial claim after executing the will.

2. 2

   Step 2: The trigger is filing it

   The article conditions nothing on the suit being won, lost or withdrawn. That condition is not added here.

3. 3

   Step 3: If the pardon is general, the date counts

   Article 1698: it comprises only the debts existing at the moment the will is executed.

4. 4

   Step 4: Unless the testator widened it

   The same article yields when the testator expressly provides otherwise.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you are creditor and legatee

   Article 1699: the legacy is not imputable as payment of your credit. By default you collect both.

6. 6

   Step 6: Unless expressly declared

   Only if the testator expressly declares it is the legacy imputed to the credit.

7. 7

   Step 7: And even then you collect the excess

   The same article lets the creditor collect the excess of the credit or of the legacy, whichever is larger.

These articles describe no procedure before any agency. The Code does not say here what happens if Article 1697’s claim is withdrawn, dismissed or lost, nor whether an extrajudicial demand counts the same; it does not distinguish “ineffective” from “void”; it does not say how the date a debt existed is fixed; and it does not say who decides which side is Article 1699’s excess. None of those gaps is filled here. Condonation as a general figure lives in another Book and has its own guide on this site; this section covers only its testamentary form.

• Trusting the pardon without checking whether the testator sued afterwards: Article 1697 makes it ineffective.
• Adding to Article 1697 a requirement that the suit succeed: the article speaks of filing the claim.
• Believing a general pardon covers later debts: Article 1698 limits it to those existing at execution.
• Forgetting that limit yields if the testator expressly provided otherwise.
• Treating the debt as settled because you were also left a legacy: Article 1699 says it is not imputed.
• Assuming imputation is total when the testator declares it: the excess is still collected.
• Treating “ineffective” and “void” as the same: the Code uses one word and does not define the difference.
• Looking in these articles for the deadline or the forum: they publish neither.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov