Repudiating an inheritance is valid only by public deed or a writing to the court

They are Articles 1582 to 1586 of the Civil Code of 2020: what repudiating is, the only two ways of doing it, what the creditors of whoever repudiates and of whoever accepts may do, and what happens if the person called dies without deciding.

Whoever is called to an inheritance and does not want it, whoever lends to or collects from that person, and the heirs of someone called who died without deciding.

• Repudiation is made by means of a public deed or a writing addressed to the court.Verified against the official source
• If the repudiation prejudices the creditors of the person called, they may go to the court to accept the inheritance in that person’s name.Verified against the official source
• That creditors’ right lapses at four years counted from the repudiation.Verified against the official source
• If the person called dies without accepting or repudiating, that same right passes to their heirs, save express testamentary disposition to the contrary.Verified against the official source

• The public deed of repudiation, if that route is chosen.
• The writing addressed to the court, if the other route is chosen.
• The record of the date of the repudiation: from it run the creditors’ four years.

1. 1

   Step 1: What repudiating is

   Article 1582: the act by which the person called to succeed declares their will not to be an heir.

2. 2

   Step 2: First route: public deed

   Article 1583: repudiation is made by means of a public deed. The Code does not say here what it must contain or what it costs.

3. 3

   Step 3: Second route: a writing to the court

   The same article admits a writing addressed to the court. It does not describe its form or cost either.

4. 4

   Step 4: There is no third route

   Article 1579 allows accepting in a public or private document. Article 1583 does not mention a private document for repudiating. They are two different rules for two different acts.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you repudiate while owing money

   Article 1584: if the person called repudiates the inheritance in prejudice of their creditors, these may go to the court to accept it in that person’s name.

6. 6

   Step 6: How far that acceptance reaches

   The same article: it only benefits the creditors in the part in which it prejudices their rights. They do not collect beyond that.

7. 7

   Step 7: And what happens with the surplus

   Closing of the first paragraph: in the surplus of the inheritance, if any, the repudiation subsists. Whoever repudiated does not recover the rest.

8. 8

   Step 8: Creditors have four years

   Second paragraph of 1584: the creditors’ right to request the authorisation lapses at four years, counted from the repudiation.

9. 9

   Step 9: If instead you accepted

   Article 1585: the heir’s creditors may not intervene in the operations of the accepted inheritance until the decedent’s obligations and the legacies are paid.

10. 10

    Step 10: But they may secure the remainder

    The same article: they may request the retention or the attachment of the remainder that may result in the heir’s favour. The order is the decedent’s debts and the legacies first, then them.

11. 11

    Step 11: If the person called dies without deciding

    Article 1586: there is transmitted to the heirs of the person called the same right they had to accept or repudiate the inheritance.

12. 12

    Step 12: Unless the will says otherwise

    Closing of 1586: save express testamentary disposition to the contrary. The testator may close off that transmission, but it must be express.

Repudiation has two channels and the Code names both: a public deed, or a writing addressed to the court. Creditors who want to accept in the name of whoever repudiated go to the court. The Code does not describe here the content of those writings, nor the procedure, nor the fee, and this guide does not invent it.

• Repudiating in a private document: Article 1583 admits only a public deed or a writing to the court.
• Believing renouncing in favour of a sibling is repudiating: Article 1580(b) treats it as tacit acceptance.
• Thinking repudiation leaves creditors without recourse: Article 1584 lets them accept in the repudiator’s name.
• Assuming creditors keep the whole inheritance: it only benefits them in the part that prejudices their rights.
• Believing whoever repudiated recovers the surplus: Article 1584 says in the surplus the repudiation subsists.
• Letting time pass as a creditor: the right lapses at four years from the repudiation.
• Thinking the heir’s creditors collect before the decedent’s: Article 1585 puts them after.
• Giving up on an inheritance because the person called died without deciding: Article 1586 passes the right to their heirs.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov