Q: How do you file for a land segregation deed in Puerto Rico when no Deed seems to have ever existed?

A: To segregate a land plot, you must first retain the services of a licensed engineer, who'll prepare a measurement certification ("certificado de mensura") and a plot plan ("plano de mensura"). With these documents, you will need to file a request with the Puerto Rico Office of General Permits (OGPe), to procure an Authorization for Inscription. OGPe will analyze the documents filed before determining whether or not to issue a positive resolution. At that point in time, the registry owner(s) of the land plot would subscribe a segregation deed.

If no deed exists, you must procure a title study to identify the property in the Public Registry and the registry owners of said property. If you cannot find the property in the Public Registry, you'd need to file a legal Dominion File with the courts. Under Puerto Rico rule of law, the transfer of ownership must be formalized by subscribing a sales deed between the registry owner(s) of the land and the buyer(s). The affidavit that you wrote about is insufficient to demonstrate ownership.

Before filing with the court, having the affidavit on hand, I suggest that you procure identifying the property id (# finca) in the property registry as well as the property's cadaster number in the Center for Municipal Income Collection (CRIM): both pieces of information will be required.

Be advised, before initiating any of the processes previously described, you must first demonstrate that you possess a just title over the real estate property to be segregated, or at the very least, that you have been in continuous and pacific possession of the property for at least 10-20 years, and that the neighbours have always seen you as the owner of the land. If this is the case, then you can go before the courts for an adversarial ownership cause (called "usucapio" in Spanish).