2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THIRTY-TWO - Code of Civil Procedure (§§ 1 — 3576) › Subtitle 4 - Special Legal Proceedings Law (§§ 2241 — 3355a) › PART II - Actions Concerning Minors or Incapacitated Persons (§§ 2661 — 2723) › Chapter 223 - Adoption (§§ 2691 — 2699t) › § 2699c - Notice of the petition to interested parties

(1) Service of notice.— Any adoption petition that is filed lacking the consent of the biological parents shall be served on the parents or the guardian of the adoptee by means of the summons and the petition. The summons shall not contain any information which identifies the adoptee whose adoption is applied for, nor the petitioners. The notice shall be served in the term of fifteen (15) days after the petition is filed with the court.
(2) Service by publication.— When the whereabouts of the parent or the parents of the adoptee is unknown, or if they are outside of Puerto Rico, or if in Puerto Rico they cannot be located after taking the pertinent steps, or if they are in hiding to avoid being served, and it is thus proven to the satisfaction of the court through a sworn statement to that effect, the court shall be requested to order that an edict be issued.
The order shall provide for the publication one single time in a newspaper of general daily circulation in the island of Puerto Rico, and that within ten (10) days following the publication of the edict, a copy of the summons and the petition filed be remitted by certified mail with return receipt requested to the parties that must be thus notified, to their last known address, unless it is justified by means of a sworn statement that in spite of all the efforts made, including a listing thereof, it has been impossible to locate any known residence, in which case the court shall waive compliance with this provision.
The edict shall not contain any information which may identify the adoptee whose adoption is petitioned, nor the petitioners. In these cases, the term to issue the notice shall be of thirty (30) days after the petition is filed with the court.
(3) Notice in person or by certified mail with return receipt requested.—
(a) To the Special Family Relations Advocate, and in the absence of said official to the Director of the Office of Investigation and Prosecution of Minors and Family Affairs of the Department of Justice.
(b) To the Secretary of the Family, so that he/she may produce the corresponding expert social study report.
(c) To those persons with whom the adoptee has been residing at the time the adoption petition is filed.
(4) Term for the notice in person and by certified mail.— In every case in which a notice must be served in person or by certified mail with return receipt requested, the term to serve the notice shall be fifteen (15) days after the petition is filed with the court.
(5) Warning in the notice.— The notice sent to those persons provided in this section shall admonish them of the fact that should they fail to appear at the first scheduled hearing, the court may decree the adoption without further summons or hearing. When the biological parents are notified by means of an edict, they shall be instructed that they may examine the petition and the files in the Office of the Clerk of the Court.
(6) Right to be heard.— Those persons with the right to be notified according to the provisions of §§ 2699-2699s of this title may state their position regarding the adoption petition. The following persons have the right to be heard:
(a) The parents with patria potestas, as well as the father or mother who, under a judicial divorce decree, does not exercise patria potestas over a minor child.
(b) The guardian or custodian of the adoptee.
(c) The adoptee who is under ten (10) and over seven (7) years of age.
(d) The grandparents of the adopted minor, orphaned by both parents, or by the father or mother.
History —Jan. 19, 1995, No. 9, § 4; Aug. 23, 1997, No. 97, § 1.