2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHT - Public Welfare and Charitable Institutions (§§ 1 — 1422) › Chapter 25 - Special Child Support Act (§§ 501 — 530) › § 524 - Measures to assure effective payment of support—Attachment of assets

(1) Child support payments, including any related penalties, fees or costs in arrears for more than thirty (30) days constitute an encumbrance for the amount of the payment over all the income of assets, real and movable property of the obligor. Such encumbrance arises as a matter of law, notwithstanding any other legislation to the contrary. The assurance of effectiveness by the corresponding attachments shall not require prior judicial notice or hearing.
Any court, administrator or administrative judge with competence over matters regarding support shall grant, by means of an order, at the request of the obligee or their own discretion, under the Rules of Civil Procedure, in the case of a court and this chapter the attachment of funds in the possession of a third party, the claiming and surrendering of movable property, the attachment of income from any of the obligor’s sources, the attachment of real or movable property, and any other appropriate measure to ensure the payment of support in arrears. The encumbrance shall be established and simultaneously notified to the obligor granting the obligor a term of not less than twenty (20) days to object same and instructing him/her of his/her right to an informal hearing, provided that the obligor is not entitled to prior notice. If the obligor does not object to the attachment order within the foregoing term or his/her objection is dismissed, the attachment order shall be final, binding and executable.
When the attachment is processed after a determination of debt for support in arrears, the attachment shall be processed by an ex parte motion and without the posting of bond by the obligee or the Administrator, as the case may be, as provided in the Rules of Civil Procedure and in this chapter. The ex parte motion shall go into effect when served.
Full faith and credit shall be granted to attachment orders and notices issued by courts of other states and prior notice or hearings shall not be required for their execution by the court or the Administrator, provided said state complies with the procedural rules pertaining to the inscription and serving of attachments in Puerto Rico. Notices of attachment orders used in interstate actions in which the Administration is the initiating or recourse state shall be made in the form provided by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources of the United States.
(2) Payment of the total amount specified in the notice of arrears sent to the indebted obligor by the clerk of the court by the State Register of Child Support Cases of the Administration, shall have the effect of paralyzing the serving of the attachment order.
(3) A mere computation error in the determination of the amount in arrears in an order of attachment and the payment of the amount indicated, if less than the real amount, shall not have the effect of settling the existing debt. If the computation error was certified by the Administration and the amount attached were greater than the amount owed, no responsibility whatsoever shall be imposed on the obligee creditor, the Administrator of the courts or any official of the General Court of Justice or the Administration, or any official of said entities. The Administration shall immediately proceed to return the amounts in its possession and, if necessary, shall issue an order to the obligee to deposit in the Administration any amount received in excess of the amount owed. The Administration, when so required, shall proceed to remit the deposited excess amount to the obligor.
(4) The order to attach income can be served by the creditor or his/her legal representative, or any ordinary person.
(5) The Administrator shall identify whether the obligor has a child support debt with more than one entitled obligee under the custody of different persons and shall surrender the proceeds of his/her attached assets to each of the obligee children in proportion to the debt that, according to the Child Support Administration, the parent without custody has with each of them.
(6) Any attachment under this chapter shall be executed without being subject to other attachments or liens or to the dispositions set forth in §§ 5191 and 5195 of Title 31, with the exception of the previous mortgage debts; and shall have preference over the payment of other debts, including those for salaries and tax payments. The payment remitted as required by the income-attachment order shall constitute a defense on the part of the disburser or employer against any claim of the obligor or the obligor’s creditors for the sum that has been paid.
(7) All persons or entities that comply with any attachment order notice issued pursuant to this section shall have absolute immunity against civil or criminal liability with regard to compliance with the terms of said notice or order.
History —Dec. 30, 1986, No. 5, p. 887, art. VII, § 25; Apr. 24, 1987, No. 16, p. 41, § 6; Aug. 17, 1994, No. 86, § 32; Dec. 18, 1997, No. 169, § 19; Aug. 1, 2003, No. 178, § 28; Dec. 29, 2009, No. 219, § 1.