Who owes support to whom in your family

It is Title X of Book Two of the Civil Code of 2020, Chapters I and II, Articles 653 to 664. It is the general framework sitting beneath child support and the support of an elderly parent: it says what alimentos are, who owes them to whom, and in what order several obligors answer.

Reciprocally obliged to provide each other alimentos are spouses, ascendants and descendants, and siblings. The obligation between siblings is narrower, and where the obligor is sixty-two or over the judge must consider a list of factors about their own situation before deciding whether the support proceeds and in what amount.

• Being the alimentista’s spouse, ascendant, descendant or sibling: those are the subjects the Code obliges reciprocally.Verified against the official source
• For alimentos between siblings: that the alimentista, for a cause not attributable to them, cannot procure their own sustenance and education.Verified against the official source
• To extend the obligation past majority: that the alimentista pursue professional or vocational studies uninterruptedly, up to the degree or twenty-five years, whichever comes first.Verified against the official source
• That an obligor aged sixty-two or over be assessed with the factors the Code lists about their health, their expenses and their economic capacity.Verified against the official source
• Not renouncing or settling the right: it is personalísimo, imprescriptible, continuous and indivisible, and admits no renunciation, encumbrance or seizure.Verified against the official source

• Evidence of the alimentante’s means and of the alimentista’s needs, the two ends the Code orders compared.

1. 1

   Step 1: What the word "alimentos" covers

   Far more than food. Alimentos means everything indispensable for the sustenance, housing, clothing, recreation and medical care of a person, according to the social position of their family. Where the alimentista is a minor, alimentos also cover their education, the atenciones de previsión suited to the usages and circumstances of their family and social setting, and the extraordinary expenses for attending to their special personal conditions.

2. 2

   Step 2: The atenciones de previsión

   The Code defines them separately because that is where most of the argument happens. They include health, life and disability insurance; investment plans to fund secondary studies or to procure professional or vocational training; and the posting of the guarantees or precautionary measures needed to achieve the alimentista’s integral development.

3. 3

   Step 3: Up to twenty-five if they are studying

   If the alimentista reaches majority while pursuing professional or vocational studies uninterruptedly, the obligation to support them extends until they obtain the corresponding academic or technical degree, or until they reach twenty-five years of age, whichever occurs first, at the judge’s discretion and according to each case’s particular circumstances. The court may set the amount, manner and term having regard to the alimentista’s personal abilities, development potential and academic performance.

4. 4

   Step 4: A right you cannot sign away

   The right to receive alimentos is personalísimo, imprescriptible, continuous and indivisible. It may not be the object of settlement, renunciation, encumbrance or seizure. Nor may the sum owed for alimentos be set off against what the alimentista owes the alimentante: if I owe you support and you owe me money, those two debts do not cancel. And if the State assumes the payment on the alimentante’s delinquency or non-compliance, it may claim from them up to the amount advanced.

5. 5

   Step 5: The three obliged groups, and the order

   Reciprocally obliged to provide each other alimentos are spouses, ascendants and descendants, and siblings. Where two or more are called to provide them, they answer in this order of precedence: the spouse; the descendants of the nearest degree; the ascendants of the nearest degree; and the siblings. The precedence between descendants and ascendants is determined by the order in which they are called to the alimentista’s intestate succession, rules we do not reproduce here because this title does not contain them.

6. 6

   Step 6: If the obligor is 62 or over

   The Code orders the judge to consider, before deciding whether the support proceeds and in what amount, a concrete list: state of health that may affect their ability to meet their own medical expenses; expenses incurred if they have an impairment or disability; expenses for particular nutrition or diets; care needed for a health condition or illness; age; whether or not they work; housing expenses; necessary expenses for disease prevention; whether they have minors, incapacitated persons or dependants in their charge; or any other factor that could substantially limit their economic capacity.

7. 7

   Step 7: Between siblings, only what is needed to subsist

   The support obligation between siblings is limited to providing the aid necessary for subsistence where, for any cause not attributable to the alimentista, they cannot procure their own sustenance and education. It is the narrowest of the three relationships, and the last in the order of precedence.

8. 8

   Step 8: Parents answer solidarily

   Both parents answer solidarily for their children’s alimentos. If one does not meet their payment obligation fully and in time, the other may start the collection action in the alimentista’s name — whether or not in their custody — or in their own name, as solidary co-debtor. By contrast, ascendants and descendants from the second degree of kinship answer subsidiarily and jointly, unless the court imposes solidary liability on them.

9. 9

   Step 9: When there are several obligors or several claimants

   If the obligation falls on two or more persons, payment is divided among them in proportion to their respective means; in case of urgent need or special circumstances the court may oblige only one to provide them provisionally, and that person may afterwards claim from the others the part corresponding to them. The other way round: if two or more alimentistas of different degrees claim from the same obligor who lacks resources for all, they are paid in the order of precedence; if they are of the same degree, their particular needs are considered; and if the spouse and a child compete, whether or not under the alimentante’s patria potestad or custody, the child is preferred over the spouse.

10. 10

    Step 10: Attorney’s fees are included

    Where the alimentista is compelled to go to court or to start an administrative proceeding to claim their right to alimentos, the amount imposed on the alimentante will include a reasonable item to cover the litigation costs and attorney’s fees. It is not an extra to be asked for separately: the Code puts it inside the amount itself.

Before the Court of First Instance, or in the corresponding administrative proceeding. For a minor child’s support, the route and the amount criteria are set by the complementary special legislation, not by this title.

• Signing an agreement waiving future alimentos: the right admits no renunciation.
• Believing alimentos are only food and not housing, clothing, recreation and medical care.
• Treating the obligation as over when the child turns eighteen even though they are still studying uninterruptedly.
• Offsetting the support against a debt the alimentista owes the alimentante.
• Claiming from a sibling what would be claimed from a parent: between siblings only what is necessary to subsist proceeds.
• Asking for attorney’s fees separately, when the Code puts them inside the amount.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov