In short
Article 1411 of the Civil Code of 2020 places eleven obligations on the mandatary. Execute personally, save provision to the contrary, the acts comprised in the mandate. Submit to the principal’s instructions. Immediately notify them of any circumstances arising after the mandate that reasonably advise departing from the instructions received. Adopt, where those circumstances arise, the indispensable and urgent measures. Inform them of any conflict of interest or circumstance that may prompt the modification or revocation of the mandate. Notify them of any value received under the mandate and place it at their disposal. Communicate to them, without delay, the execution of the mandate. Deliver the profits derived from the execution, with default interest on the sums used for their own benefit. Render accounts of the execution at the agreed time, when the principal demands it, or on the extinction of the mandate. Present and deliver, as appropriate, the documents related to the execution. And indemnify the principal for the damages caused by their untimely and unjustified resignation. Article 1412 recognises two rights worth knowing: suspend the execution where the principal is in default on the obligations generated by the mandate; and retain, until their credits are satisfied, with preference over the principal’s other creditors, the goods resulting from the execution of the mandate.
What is it?
They are Articles 1411 and 1412 of the Civil Code of 2020: the mandatary’s eleven duties and the two rights the Code recognises for them.
Who can do it?
Anyone acting for another under a mandate or power governed by the Puerto Rico Civil Code, and whoever conferred it.
Requirements
- Execute personally the acts comprised in the mandate, save provision to the contrary.Verified against the official source
- Submit to the principal’s instructions, and immediately notify them if later circumstances advise departing from them.Verified against the official source
- Disclose any conflict of interest or circumstance that may prompt the modification or revocation of the mandate.Verified against the official source
- Render accounts of the execution at the agreed time, when the principal demands it, or on the extinction of the mandate.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Doing it yourself
Article 1411(a): execute personally, save provision to the contrary, the acts comprised in the mandate. Personal execution is the rule; delegating needs a provision allowing it.
Step 2: Following instructions
Subsection (b): submit to the principal’s instructions. The mandatary acts in another’s interest and within the margin the principal gives.
Step 3: And warning if departing is advisable
Subsection (c): immediately notify the principal of any circumstances arising after the mandate that reasonably advise departing from the instructions received. It is not departing on one’s own: first you warn.
Step 4: What is urgent, however, gets done
Subsection (d): adopt, where those circumstances arise, the indispensable and urgent measures. The duty to warn does not paralyse what cannot wait.
Step 5: Conflicts of interest get disclosed
Subsection (e): inform the principal of any conflict of interest or circumstance that may prompt the modification or revocation of the mandate. The duty also reaches what might lead the principal to revoke.
Step 6: Money and values received
Subsections (f) and (h): notify the principal of any value received under the mandate and place it at their disposal; and deliver the profits derived from the execution with default interest on the sums used for their own benefit. Using the principal’s money for oneself has a price written into the statute.
Step 7: The rate of that interest is not here
The subsection speaks of default interest without fixing a rate. The Code deals with interest in other articles, with their own guides, and this guide publishes no percentage.
Step 8: Reporting execution and rendering accounts
Subsections (g), (i) and (j): communicate to the principal, without delay, the execution of the mandate; render accounts at the agreed time, when the principal demands it, or on the extinction of the mandate; and present and deliver the documents related to the execution.
Step 9: Resigning has conditions
Subsection (k): indemnify the principal for the damages caused by their untimely and unjustified resignation. The article does not define what untimely means nor fix a notice period, and this guide does not fill it in.
Step 10: Their right to stop if unpaid
Article 1412(a): suspend the execution where the principal is in default on the obligations generated by the mandate. The requirement is written: the principal’s default.
Step 11: And their right to retain, with preference
Subsection (b): retain, until their credits are satisfied, with preference over the principal’s other creditors, the goods resulting from the execution of the mandate. The preference is written that way, without the article here explaining how it ranks against secured creditors.
Where to do it
The duties and rights run between principal and mandatary; the Code names no agency. If accounts, profits or damages must be claimed, the Court of First Instance decides. The preference of Article 1412(b) over other creditors belongs to priority-of-credits legislation, which we did not read here.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If your question is how a power is granted or what it reaches, that is the power-of-attorney guide, which reads those articles in full. If you want to know what the principal owes the mandatary — price, expenses, the accounts and their thirty days — that is this chapter’s other guide. If the mandate has ended, there is a third. These articles fix no default-interest rate, do not define which resignation is untimely and unjustified, and do not explain how the mandatary’s preference ranks against secured creditors. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Delegating the errand without a provision to the contrary: the rule is personal execution.
- Departing from instructions without immediately notifying the principal.
- Standing still before something urgent while awaiting an answer: the indispensable and urgent measures must be adopted.
- Keeping quiet about a conflict of interest.
- Receiving money or values under the mandate and neither notifying nor placing them at the principal’s disposal.
- Using the principal’s sums for one’s own benefit: they are returned with default interest.
- Not rendering accounts when the principal demands them or on the extinction of the mandate.
- Resigning untimely and without justification: the damages caused are answered for.
- As the mandatary, suspending execution where the principal is not in default.
- As the principal, ignoring that the mandatary may retain the resulting goods until paid, with preference over other creditors.
Frequently asked questions
May the attorney-in-fact send someone else to do the errand?
Article 1411(a) requires them to execute personally the acts comprised in the mandate, save provision to the contrary.
May they depart from my instructions if things change?
They must immediately notify you of the later circumstances that reasonably advise departing, and meanwhile adopt the indispensable and urgent measures.
They used my money for themselves. What do they owe me?
Article 1411(h) requires them to deliver the profits derived from the execution with default interest on the sums used for their own benefit. The article fixes no rate.
I have not paid them. May they keep the goods?
Article 1412(b) lets them retain, until their credits are satisfied and with preference over the principal’s other creditors, the goods resulting from the execution; and subsection (a) lets them suspend execution if the principal is in default.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 9, 2026
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