You took on someone else’s affair uninvited: you cannot just drop it

They are Articles 1516 and 1517 of the Civil Code of 2020: what management of another’s affairs is, what happens if the interested party ratifies it, and the five obligations of whoever assumes it.

Whoever voluntarily takes charge of the patrimonial affairs of another who is unaware, without being bound by law or agreement, under the Puerto Rico Civil Code.

• That the person take charge voluntarily, without intent of liberality and without being bound by law or agreement.Verified against the official source
• That it concern the agency or administration of the patrimonial affairs of another person who is unaware of it.Verified against the official source
• From the manager: notify the interested party without delay and await their instructions, save imminent danger where waiting could prove harmful.Verified against the official source
• From the manager: continue the management until the interested party can assume it, ratify it or entrust it to another; if they die, until the heirs dispose otherwise.Verified against the official source
• From the manager: render accounts to the interested party once the management concludes.Verified against the official source

• The record of the notice to the interested party and its date: Article 1517(b) requires it without delay.
• The accounts of the management, to be rendered on its conclusion.
• The interested party’s ratification, if any: it moves the relationship to the rules of mandate.

1. 1

   Step 1: Nobody asked you, and that is the point

   Article 1516: takes charge voluntarily. If there was an errand, there is mandate; if there was a contract, there is a contract. This figure begins where neither exists.

2. 2

   Step 2: Neither as a gift nor out of a prior duty

   The same article requires it be without intent of liberality and without being bound by law or agreement. Whoever helps as a gift is no manager, and neither is whoever already owed the duty.

3. 3

   Step 3: And over the patrimonial affairs of someone unaware

   The last two conditions: patrimonial affairs, and a person unaware of it. If the owner knows and consents, the relationship is another. The Code does not define here what counts as a patrimonial affair, and this guide does not define it for it.

4. 4

   Step 4: If the interested party ratifies, the regime changes

   Second sentence of 1516: if the interested party ratifies the management, the relationship is governed by the rules applicable to mandate. It stops being management of another’s affairs and moves to the mandate chapter, which has its own guides here.

5. 5

   Step 5: With what care one must act

   Article 1517(a): with the diligence with which a prudent and reasonable person would look after their own affairs. The bar is one’s own care, not a minimal one.

6. 6

   Step 6: Notify without delay and await instructions

   Subsection (b): notify the interested party without delay that it assumed the management, and await their instructions. Two duties in sequence: notify, then wait.

7. 7

   Step 7: Unless waiting would do harm

   The same subsection: save where there is imminent danger to their interests and waiting could prove harmful. Both conditions go together: imminent danger, and waiting being harmful.

8. 8

   Step 8: Starting is voluntary; stopping is not

   Subsection (c): continue the management until the interested party can assume it themselves, ratify it or entrust it to another. Three exits, and none of them is walking away. It is the obligation that most surprises whoever stepped in to help.

9. 9

   Step 9: And if the interested party dies, you continue

   The same subsection: if the interested party dies, it must continue the management until the heirs dispose otherwise. Death does not close the duty; it shifts it to what the heirs decide.

10. 10

    Step 10: According to what the interested party would want

    Subsection (d): act according to the convenience and the intention, real or reasonably presumable, of the interested party. It is not about doing what the manager thinks best, but what the owner would want.

11. 11

    Step 11: And render accounts at the end

    Subsection (e): render accounts to the interested party once the management concludes. The Code does not say how they are rendered or within what period, and this guide does not describe it.

12. 12

    Step 12: What this guide does not cover

    What the manager answers for if something goes wrong, and what the interested party who benefits owes it — expenses, losses, damages and, where applicable, remuneration — is in the chapter’s next two articles, with its own guide.

The management runs between manager and interested party; the Code names no agency for this chapter. Claims over accounts, expenses or damages are decided by the Court of First Instance.

• Taking on another’s affair and abandoning it halfway: subsection (c) requires continuing.
• Believing the interested party’s death releases the manager: one must continue until the heirs dispose otherwise.
• Not notifying the interested party without delay that you assumed the management.
• Acting without awaiting instructions where there is no imminent danger and no harm in waiting.
• Doing what the manager thinks best instead of what the interested party would want.
• Applying minimal diligence: the Code demands that of someone tending their own affairs.
• Forgetting to render accounts on concluding the management.
• Calling a favour done as a gift management of another’s affairs: the absence of intent of liberality is required.
• Applying this figure where the interested party knew and consented: the article requires them to be unaware.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov