On August 3rd, 2026, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court (“PRSC”) issued an opinion—Rivera del Valle v. Registrador
de la Propiedad Sección Humacao I, 2026 TSPR 83—that provides important guidance in matters of inheritance disclaimers.
In the case at hand, in order to change the tittle in a registered property on behalf of a disclaimant, the PRSC held that to
correctly disclaim an inheritance, it was required to obtain a judicial resolution specifying the identity of the person(s) entitled
to the disclaimed portions in question.
In this case, after the testator’s death, there was a controversy regarding the intestate succession for real property
owned by the descendant and not cover under the will that needed to be resolved among his remaining heirs: his widow and
three children. The widow petitioned for and obtained the required judicial resolution on the declaration of heirs with respect
to an estate property not subject to the descendant’s will. Consequently, the widow and all three children were validly
recognized by the First Instance Court as sole and universal heirs to the testator’s estate not covered by the will. Subsequently,
one of the children/heirs proceeded to disclaim the inheritance through a public deed stating that it was her intent to leave all
assets, known and unknown, at the free disposal of the remaining heirs. Afterwards, she filed an affidavit through which she
expressed her will to disclaim the inheritance not only for herself, but her heirs and descendants too.
Under the Puerto Rico Civil Code of 2020, Act No. 55-2020 (31 L.P.R.A. sec. 5311 et seq., the “New Puerto Rico
Civil Code), when an heir chooses to disclaim his/her inheritance, there are two possible situations:
(1) if the disclaiming heir has descendants; the interest is transferred over to them (which is a recent change from
the previous laws where a disclaimer by an heir operated as a disclaimer for the disclaimant’s descendants).
(2) if the disclaiming heir has no descendants, or if the descendants also disclaim, the equal distribution of the portion
from the disclaiming heir among the non-disclaiming heirs prevails.
In the case at hand, there were descendants, so the inheritance-by-representation rule applied. Therefore, the
disclaimer could not affect the disclaimant’s descendants of the disclaiming child.
Key Takeaways; disclaiming itself remains a valid, unilateral, irrevocable act that requires no prior judicial
authorization in Puerto Rico. However, under the new Puerto Rico Civil Code, the act of disclaiming has effects exclusively
on the party who elects it, not on its descendants.
To ensure that the disclaimed rights are correctly distributed among those intended, when a hereditary right is already
recorded in the Property Registry, obtaining a second judicial resolution specifying the identity of those who will take the
disclaimed shares, may it be by right o representation of accretion, is an indispensable requirement so the Property Registry
may record the effects of the disclaim.
This document has been prepared for information purposes only and is not intended as and should not be relied upon as legal
advice. If you have any questions or comments about the matters discussed in this notice, wish to obtain more information
related thereto, or about its possible effect(s) on policy or operational matters, please contact us.
Tax & Employee Benefits Department