An inheritance can be debts alone: the Code says so in those words

They are Articles 1546 to 1553 of the Civil Code of 2020: what succession by cause of death is, when it opens, how many classes there are, what the inheritance comprises and how heir and legatee differ.

Anyone called to an inheritance in Puerto Rico, and whoever wants to understand the vocabulary a will and a declaration of heirs use.

• The succession opens at the moment of the decedent’s death.Verified against the official source
• Succession may be testamentary, intestate or mixed, but not contractual.Verified against the official source
• The inheritance comprises rights and obligations even where obligations exceed rights, or where there are only obligations.Verified against the official source
• The heir succeeds by universal title; the legatee, in specific goods or an aliquot part, by particular title.Verified against the official source

• The death certificate: the succession opens at the moment of death.
• The will, if any: testamentary succession results from it, and its absence or inapplicability opens the intestate one.
• The inventory of the decedent’s rights and obligations: the inheritance comprises both.

1. 1

   Step 1: What is transmitted

   Article 1546: the rights and obligations of the decedent that are not extinguished by their death. Not everything is inherited: what is extinguished by death does not pass. The Code does not list here what is extinguished, and this guide does not list it for it.

2. 2

   Step 2: When it opens

   Article 1547: at the moment of the decedent’s death. Not when the will is read, nor when the declaration is made: at the moment of death.

3. 3

   Step 3: Three classes, and one prohibition

   Article 1548: testamentary, intestate or mixed, but not contractual. That closing clause forbids arranging an inheritance by contract under this Code.

4. 4

   Step 4: The testamentary one

   Article 1549: that resulting from the will declared in a testament. The will has its own chapter and a separate guide on this site.

5. 5

   Step 5: The intestate one, and an overlooked nuance

   Article 1550: that established by law for where testamentary dispositions do not exist or do not govern. It is enough that they not govern: there may be a will and the intestate succession still open.

6. 6

   Step 6: And the mixed one

   Article 1551: that resulting partly from the will declared in a testament and partly by disposition of law. Both sources coexist in the same succession.

7. 7

   Step 7: The inheritance includes the debts

   Article 1552: it comprises the transmissible rights and obligations. It is not only what the decedent had in their favour: also what they owed.

8. 8

   Step 8: And it may consist of debts alone

   The same article writes it plainly: whether the rights exceed the obligations, the obligations exceed the rights, or there are only obligations. The third possibility is in the text.

9. 9

   Step 9: And what else is included

   Second paragraph of 1552: it also comprises the computable donations, as well as the rights and obligations inherent to it after the succession is opened. The Code does not define here what makes a donation computable.

10. 10

    Step 10: Heir: receives the whole, good and bad

    Article 1553: the heir succeeds the decedent in all transmissible rights and obligations, by universal title. That universality is what drags the debts along too.

11. 11

    Step 11: Legatee: receives something specific

    The same article: the legatee succeeds in specific goods or in an aliquot part, designated by particular title. It is the difference most often confused in practice.

12. 12

    Step 12: What this title does not carry

    It does not say how an inheritance is accepted or repudiated, nor whether liability for the decedent’s debts may be limited: that is in later chapters of the same book. Nor does it define computable donations, or name any form, fee or deadline.

These articles describe no procedure before any agency: they fix definitions. The concrete procedures — the will before a notary, the declaration of heirs by notarial or judicial route — have their own guides on this site.

• Believing an inheritance always adds up: Article 1552 admits there being only obligations.
• Thinking an inheritance may be arranged by contract: Article 1548 says succession may not be contractual.
• Assuming that if there is a will the intestate succession cannot open: it is enough that the dispositions not govern.
• Confusing heir with legatee: the first succeeds by universal title, the second by particular title.
• Counting the opening of the succession from the reading of the will or the declaration: it opens with death.
• Forgetting the inheritance also comprises computable donations.
• Assuming everything is inherited: only what is not extinguished by death.
• Looking in this title for how to accept or repudiate the inheritance: that is in a later chapter.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov