Asked in Elder Law, Probate and Estate Planning for Puerto Rico

Q: My dad past away in Puerto Rico. He had joint ownership of their home and bank accounts with my mom. My mom seemed leg

Seeked Legal advice and handed checks over to this lawyer that were in both her name and my dad’s. That was 5 years ago and now the atty is avoiding my mom and has all her accounts frozen. The atty is also avoiding my calls. It is a large amount of money and my mom has not received a dime of her money. Because of her age and not having knowledge of her rights I believe this atty is not looking out for my mom’s best interest. I am fearful that mom has been scammed of all her monies. Please help me help her

1 Lawyer Answer
Nelson Jose Francisco Alvarez-Aponte
  • Estate Planning Lawyer
  • Carolina, PR
  • Licensed in Puerto Rico

A: Hello and thank you for using Justia. You will need to create an Estate for your beloved Father and do a declaration of Inheritors in a Court process. Once the Court has issued the decrece declaring the inheritors , the next step is to file the Estate's Inheritance tax return. This will create a tax release document. With said document the Estate can be liquidated, real property can be registered in the name of the inheritors and your Mother can then get her share of the marital belongings (half of the property and monies)

and her quota as the widow. (Cuota viudal)

As for the check given to the other Attorney that was in the names of the marital society ( both mom' s & dad' s names) said check is not negociable since the account by law becomes frozen the day your beloved Father passed on. There is nothing the Attorney can legally do to scam your Mother out of her share.

All you need to do is get a new Attorney to do the legal process and thus you will receive your inheritance.

If you need additional information please feel free to contact me directly.

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