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The court may forbid taking the children out of Puerto Rico while the case lasts

Last reviewed: September 13, 2026 — VerifiedPoder Judicial

In short

Article 444 starts by leaving the wheel in the couple’s hands: once the individual divorce petition is filed, the spouses may agree the provisional measures governing their personal relations, the family’s economic stability and the matters significantly affecting the children during the process. The court may approve them if adequate, or modify them at any stage to secure the well-being of both and of the family’s members. Article 445 covers the silence: if they are not agreed within a prudent term, the court may summarily establish the most urgent and necessary ones; how long prudent is the article does not say. Article 446 lists, at a party’s request, what may be ordered to protect the children’s optimal interest: who will hold custody of minors or of incapacitated adults still under patria potestad; the manner, time and place each parent may relate to them, keep them in their company and take part in their raising; forbidding a spouse or third parties under their influence from interfering with the other’s provisional custody; forbidding the children from being moved out of Puerto Rico; and forbidding the suspension or modification of any health insurance plan or other provision arrangements, save just cause. Article 447 does the same for the spouses and the patrimony: who keeps living in the family home and on what terms, each one’s contribution to the family’s burdens including litigation costs, which common goods are handed to each after inventory, and the regime for certain privative goods destined to answer for the burdens. Article 448 adds measures for special needs, for other family members both were supporting, and any other needed to protect the family group’s physical and emotional integrity. And Article 449 lets the court authorise a spouse to leave the conjugal residence or order their removal.

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What is it?

They are Articles 444 to 449 of the Civil Code of 2020: what may be agreed or ordered while the divorce is pending, about the children, the home and the money.

Who can do it?

Either spouse in a divorce process already filed.

Requirements

Documents you need

Cost

Check the current cost with the official agency.

Step by step

  1. Step 1: Try agreeing them yourselves

    Article 444: once filed, the spouses may agree the process’s provisional measures.

  2. Step 2: The court reviews them anyway

    The same article lets it approve them if adequate or modify them at any stage.

  3. Step 3: With no agreement, it sets them

    Article 445: it may summarily establish the most urgent and necessary ones.

  4. Step 4: Ask for what the children need

    Article 446: provisional custody, relations with each parent, and bans on interference.

  5. Step 5: Including leaving the island

    The same article allows forbidding the children’s removal from Puerto Rico.

  6. Step 6: And the health plan

    Suspending or modifying the health insurance or other provision arrangements may be barred, absent just cause.

  7. Step 7: Settle who stays in the home

    Article 447: the court decides who stays in the family home and on what terms until judgment.

  8. Step 8: And who pays what meanwhile

    The same article fixes each one’s contribution to the family’s burdens, litigation costs included.

Where to do it

These six articles do not describe the court filing procedure. The Code does not say here how long Article 445’s prudent term is, nor what the children’s optimal interest or the family interest most in need of protection require. It does not say how each measure is requested, with what pleading or at what fee. It does not say how long they last or how they are modified: that sits in the following articles of the same subsection, and this guide does not tell it. Custody, filial relations and the removal of minors as permanent matters have their own guides on this site. None of those gaps is filled here.

How long it takes

Check the current processing time with the official agency.

What to do if something goes wrong

What most people do not know about this subsection is how much may be asked for while the case is alive, without waiting for judgment. Article 446 is not limited to provisional custody: it allows forbidding a spouse, and third parties under their influence, from interfering with the custody adjudicated to the other; it allows forbidding the children from being moved out of Puerto Rico; and it allows forbidding the suspension or modification of the health insurance plan or any other provision arrangement, unless there is just cause. That last one causes real damage fastest when someone uses it as leverage, and it is among those asked for too late. On the economic side, Article 447 settles three things that often hang in the air for months: who keeps living in the family home and on what terms, how much each contributes to the family’s burdens — litigation costs included, and with guarantees, deposits or retentions if needed — and which common goods are handed to each to support themselves, after inventory. Article 448 also opens a door that gets overlooked: it covers family members other than the children, if both spouses ordinarily bore their sustenance, and allows any measure needed to protect the family group’s physical and emotional integrity during the process. Two warnings. The first: Article 444 puts the spouses’ agreement first, but the court may modify it at any stage if it does not secure the well-being of both and of the family, so a lopsided agreement is not shielded by being an agreement. The second: if nobody proposes anything, Article 445 lets the court summarily set the most urgent ones, but only after a prudent term the Code does not quantify. Waiting speeds up nothing. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.

Common mistakes

  • Waiting for judgment to seek protection: these measures exist during the process.
  • Asking only for provisional custody and forgetting the ban on removal from Puerto Rico.
  • Not protecting the health insurance plan, which Article 446 allows shielding absent just cause.
  • Leaving unresolved who stays in the family home and on what terms.
  • Omitting litigation costs when fixing each spouse’s contribution: Article 447 includes them.
  • Handing over common goods without the prior inventory that article requires.
  • Believing an agreement shields the measure: the court may modify it at any stage.
  • Trusting the court will act alone: Article 445 waits a prudent term absent agreement.

Frequently asked questions

May they be barred from taking my children off the island?

Article 446 allows forbidding either spouse from moving the minor or incapacitated adult children out of Puerto Rico.

Who stays in the house while the case lasts?

Article 447 lets the court determine which spouse keeps residing in the family home and on what terms.

May my health plan be cut during the divorce?

Article 446 allows forbidding the suspension or modification of any health plan or provision arrangement, absent just cause.

May we agree the measures ourselves?

Article 444 allows it, and the court may approve them if adequate or modify them at any stage.

Official sources

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

Last verified

September 13, 2026

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