In short
Three short articles close the chapter on unworthiness and each settles a practical question. Article 1559 fixes what is returned: the one incapable of succeeding or the unworthy one are obliged to restore the goods of the inheritance or the legacy with their accessions and the fruits collected, and those fruits are computed from when they acquire possession of said goods. Note two things. One, the article does not speak only of the unworthy person: it also reaches the one incapable of succeeding, which is a different figure. The other, the clock for the fruits starts at possession, not at the declaration. Article 1560 runs in the opposite direction and is the one that surprises most: the causes of unworthiness produce no effects if the decedent, knowing them at the moment of granting the will, makes dispositions in favour of the unworthy one; or if the decedent, knowing them, reconciles with the unworthy one by unequivocal acts or pardons them in a public or private document. The word “knowing them” governs both routes: the decedent must know. The document may be private, without a notary. And the closing sentence of the article is the one people do not expect: the reconciliation and the pardon are irrevocable. Once pardoned, the decedent cannot take it back. Article 1561 sets the term: the action to declare unworthiness lapses after four years from when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee. That count does not begin with the death, nor with the delación, nor on the day the interested party found out: it begins with possession in the capacity of heir or legatee.
What is it?
They are Articles 1559 to 1561 of the Civil Code of 2020: the duty to restore goods, accessions and fruits; the two ways of rehabilitating the unworthy heir; and the four-year lapse of the action.
Who can do it?
Whoever wants another person called to an inheritance declared unworthy, whoever was named unworthy, and whoever received goods from an inheritance without capacity to succeed.
Requirements
- The one incapable of succeeding or the unworthy one must restore the goods with their accessions and the fruits collected.Verified against the official source
- The fruits are computed from when the obliged person acquires possession of the goods.Verified against the official source
- The decedent’s reconciliation and pardon are irrevocable.Verified against the official source
- The action to declare unworthiness lapses after four years from when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: What must be returned
Article 1559: the goods of the inheritance or the legacy with their accessions and the fruits collected. It is not only the thing: also what the thing produced.
Step 2: Who must return
The same article names two: the one incapable of succeeding and the unworthy one. They are different figures — incapacity is in Articles 1554 and 1555, unworthiness in 1556 — and the duty to restore reaches both.
Step 3: From when the fruits are counted
They are computed from when they acquire possession of said goods. Not from the declaration of unworthiness nor from the decedent’s death: from possession.
Step 4: Rehabilitation by will
Article 1560(a): the causes produce no effects if the decedent, knowing them at the moment of granting the will, makes dispositions in favour of the unworthy one. The knowledge must exist at the granting.
Step 5: Rehabilitation by reconciliation
Article 1560(b), first route: if the decedent, knowing them, reconciles with the unworthy one by unequivocal acts. The Code demands the acts be unequivocal, not that they be in writing.
Step 6: Rehabilitation by pardon
Second route of the same paragraph: or pardons them in a public or private document. The Code expressly accepts a private document; it does not require a notary.
Step 7: And it cannot be undone
Closing sentence of Article 1560: the reconciliation and the pardon are irrevocable. A decedent who pardons cannot later take that pardon back.
Step 8: The four-year term
Article 1561: the action to declare unworthiness lapses after four years. The Code calls it caducidad, not prescription.
Step 9: From when those four years run
From when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee. Both conditions go together: possession, and in that capacity.
Step 10: What these three articles do not say
They do not say before whom the action is filed, do not define accessions or fruits collected here, do not say what happens if the unworthy one never comes to possess the goods, and do not say who bears the expenses of what is restored. This guide does not fill those gaps.
Where to do it
These articles describe no procedure before any agency. The Code does not say in them before whom the action to declare unworthiness is filed, and this guide does not assume it.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
If you were told the decedent had pardoned the person, check Article 1560: the pardon is valid in a public or private document, the reconciliation is valid by unequivocal acts, and in both cases the decedent must have known the cause. Once given, they are irrevocable. If what worries you is time, the four-year count of Article 1561 does not start with the death nor on the day you found out, but from when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee. And if the person already collected rents or harvests, Article 1559 obliges them to restore the fruits collected from when they took possession too. The six causes of unworthiness and who may invoke them are in the capacity-to-inherit and unworthiness guide. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.
Common mistakes
- Believing a pardon of the unworthy heir can be revoked: Article 1560 says reconciliation and pardon are irrevocable.
- Thinking the pardon needs a notary: the Code admits a public or private document.
- Counting the four years from the decedent’s death: they run from when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee.
- Assuming only the good itself must be returned: also its accessions and the fruits collected.
- Counting the fruits from the declaration of unworthiness: they are computed from acquiring possession.
- Believing the duty to restore applies only to the unworthy one: Article 1559 also names the one incapable of succeeding.
- Thinking it is enough that the decedent made dispositions in favour of the unworthy one: they had to know the cause when granting the will.
- Treating the lapse of Article 1561 as if it were prescription: the Code calls it caducidad.
Frequently asked questions
Can the decedent withdraw a pardon they gave?
Article 1560 ends by saying that reconciliation and pardon are irrevocable.
Must the pardon be before a notary?
Article 1560(b) says the decedent pardons them in a public or private document. It admits a private one.
How long is there to ask that an heir be declared unworthy?
Article 1561 says the action lapses after four years from when the unworthy one is in possession of the goods as heir or legatee.
Must the rents collected be returned too?
Article 1559 obliges restoring the goods with their accessions and the fruits collected, computed from when possession of said goods is acquired.
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 10, 2026
MiPRFácil is an independent informational website and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Government of Puerto Rico or any government agency.
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