2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART IV - Vital Statistics Registry (§§ 1041 — 1325) › Chapter 85 - Deaths (§§ 1101 — 1111) › § 1101 - Record of death; burial and removal-and-burial permits

No corpse shall be buried, or deposited in a niche or tomb, or cremated, or otherwise removed or transported out of the municipality where the death occurred, unless a record of such death is previously made in the registry of the place where the same occurred or of the place where the corpse has been found, and unless the keeper of the registry has issued the corresponding burial permit, if the burial is to be effected in the municipality where the death occurred or the corpse was found, or the removal and burial permit, if the burial is to take place outside of said municipality. Provided, That when a death occurs in an airplane or ship while it is navigating, and the corpse is removed from the ship in any municipality in Puerto Rico, the death shall be registered in that municipality but the place of death will be indicated on the certificate, as far as it is possible to determine it. Such burial permit, or removal and burial shall not be issued by the Registrar until a complete and satisfactory certificate of death, including the physician’s certificate as to the cause of death, has been recorded in his office. Burials so authorized shall not be effected until, according to said physician’s certificate, twenty-four hours have elapsed from the time of death, except in cases of death from a contagious disease, when the burial shall take place within the time fixed in the health regulations; Provided, That nothing herein prescribed exempts from compliance with the requirements imposed by the health regulations for the removal of corpses; and, Provided, further, That when a corpse is brought into Puerto Rico to be buried in any registry district of this Island, the removal permit issued in accordance with the sanitary law and regulations of the country where the corpse comes from shall be presented to the registrar for the issuance of the corresponding burial permit, or removal and burial permit, as the case may be.
Registration of the death shall be made upon presentation of the death certificate to which the first paragraph of this section refers, which shall be produced by the relatives of the decedent, the residents in his own house, the undertaker of the person in charge of the burial, or in default thereof, by the neighbors, the heads of the establishment where the death occurred, or the directors of the organization to which the decedent belonged.
In the case of a person who dies outside of Puerto Rico, the Registrar will prepare the corresponding death certificate, according to a prior court order. The order shall include the information needed to complete said certificate. The certificate shall be marked with the word “Out of Jurisdiction” and will identify the court order.
To the effects of certifying the death of persons deceased outside the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico, the certificate of removal of the corpse shall constitute prima facie evidence, as if it were a certificate of death within the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico.
History —Apr. 22, 1931, No. 24, p. 228, § 7; May 31, 1948, No. 4, p. 10, § 1; Apr. 28, 1954, No. 24, p. 152; Feb. 23, 1978, No. 1, p. 3, § 1.