2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHT - Public Welfare and Charitable Institutions (§§ 1 — 1422) › Chapter 32 - Act for the Improvement of Family Assistance and for the Support of the Elderly (§§ 711 — 748) › § 735b - Administrative mediation procedure

Every applicant for services pursuant to § 722 of this title, whether per se, through his/her legal counsel, or by a police officer, a public or private agency or instrumentality, guardian, public official or any private person concerned in sharing the obligation to support said person, may initiate the administrative mediation procedure, pursuant to the Norms and Procedures Handbook of the Conflict Mediation Centers of the Judicial Branch, duly approved by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico pursuant to §§ 532–532e of Title 4, and the Alternate Methods for the Solution of Conflicts Regulation duly approved by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, and with the following:
(a) Administrative mediation procedure.— The Administrator shall prepare and provide a form to obtain information on the financial and non-financial capacity of the obligor and the needs of the elderly persons to the parties. The form shall be completed with a certified statement of the veracity of the information furnished. The submission of the form is a voluntary act and does not exempt the parties from their continuing obligation of furnishing any other information that will allow the execution of a mediation agreement. After the form is received, it shall be referred to mediation for its resolution.
Said process shall have the purpose of promoting the participation of the obligor and the obligee in the solution of their conflicts and that the parties will assume the responsibility in complying with the agreements reached. The parties have the option of deciding whether they will submit to this process or not.
The Administrator shall adopt, with the consent of the Secretary, the regulations that will govern the mediation procedures pursuant to §§ 532–532e of Title 4, and the alternate methods for the solution of conflicts regulations approved on June 25, 1998, by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
(b) Agreements on elderly support allowances.— When the parties reach an agreement or a stipulation on the support allowance for the elderly, it shall be submitted for the approval of the Administrator.
Once the agreement is established between the parties, it shall be deemed as final, and shall only be revised after three (3) years, unless circumstances arise that require the modification of the previous agreements. Compliance of the agreements shall be overseen through interagency coordination.
Any party affected by the non-compliance of the mediation agreements may request that in the administrative mediation procedure, the appearance of the parties to seek the voluntary compliance of the agreements shall be requested without needing to resort to the judicial procedure.
(c) Judicial procedure.— The deputy investigating official of the elderly shall be referred to represent the obligee, and present before the court a formal petition for elderly support, or of compliance with the mediation agreements pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, in the following cases:
(1) When the parties do not reach an agreement;
(2) when any of the parties decides whether or not to submit to the administrative mediation procedure;
(3) when the mediator determines that the administrative mediation mechanism is not in order;
(4) when an agreement is established for the support of an elderly person within the administrative mediation procedure and the mechanisms to achieve its voluntary compliance have been exhausted, said agreement is not complied with, or
(5) when a stipulation is established between the parties and the same is not complied with.
(d) Confidentiality in the administrative mediation procedures.— The information furnished by the participants in the mediation procedure created through this chapter shall be confidential and privileged as well as all working documents and files of the office of the mediator. Said information or documentation cannot be required in judicial or administrative procedures, nor can the mediator be required to declare on its contents or on the procedure followed before him/her.
Each party to this mediation procedure shall maintain the confidentiality of the information received throughout the process. In judicial or administrative procedures, the viewpoints, suggestions or admissions made during the mediation sessions by any participant regarding possible agreements shall not be used or presented as evidence.
In the event any of the parties or their attorneys wholly or partially reveal the information offered in the alternate process without a written authorization, the court may impose on them the sanctions that he/she may deem appropriate.
This rule shall not apply in those cases where there is the obligation to inform [of] the existence or suspicion of mistreatment or negligence against an elderly person nor of information on the planning or intention to commit a crime that may endanger the physical integrity of third persons, the participants, or the mediator. At the beginning of the process the participants shall be advised on this matter.
The sessions held in the alternate methods for the resolution of conflicts shall be private. The participation of persons alien to the controversy shall be subject to the consent of the parties and of the mediator and when no specific measure or procedure has been provided in this chapter, the Program may establish regulations to such respect.
History —Aug. 12, 2000, No. 168, added as § 14 on Aug. 17, 2002, No. 193, § 17.