Servicios Legales de PR (SLPR) GivingTuesday 2021

We share a recent triumph that exemplifies how our litigation provides equal access to justice to low-income individuals and communities.

Servicios Legales de Puerto Rico (SLPR) prevailed before the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in a case against the Puerto Rico Property Registry. The Property Registrar of San Juan Section V required the payment of the Registry's fees in order to inscribe certain documents related to a SLPR's client home title. The Puerto Rico Highest Court decided that the entity is exempt from paying fees in procedures filed with the Property Registry, benefiting the thousands of low-income clients that we represent.

The beginning of this case dates back to October 2019 when the San Juan Section V Property Registrar denied the registration of the main residence of a disabled and indigent person, who had received as a donation her sisters’ share of the house left by their parents as an inheritance. The Registrar claimed that SLPR's exemption did not apply to the Property Registry's fees. The payment of the Registry fee totaled more than $1300. Unable to resolve the controversy over the exemption of payments of SLPR clients with the Registry and fulfilling our mission to defend access to justice for the poor and working class of our island, our organization filed an appeal to the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. During February of this year, the Supreme Court notified its opinion which unanimously overturned the Property Registrar.

Our highest court reiterated that the requirements for payment of fees to the Registry do not apply to indigent persons, nor do they apply in judicial proceedings. The decision demonstrated that by constitutional imperative indigents are classified as exempt from payments such as the one disputed. This decision removes barriers and is an achievement for access to justice for indigent people.

The Supreme Court interpreted Law No. 122 of June 9, 1967, as amended, which established that SLPR is exempt from all kinds of fees, duties or taxes of any nature in the processing of judicial and notarial proceedings and in the issuance of government certifications, as well as in matters in which they are intervening in favor of the indigent, concluding that payment exemption applies to the Property Registry's fees.

At a time when hundreds of our clients need to update their property titles to, among other reasons, access funds to rebuild their homes, this decision allows families who need it, to register their titles and complete the necessary processes to vindicate their rights to have a decent and safe home.

We will continue to protect the rights of the most vulnerable with our litigation.

Allow us to share another story that shows how services we are providing make it possible that low-income individuals and communities have equal access to justice.

Sherri knows no other parents than Ana and Gerry. Since she was one year and four months old, she has lived with them, who welcomed her as participants in the Family Department's foster care program. Ana and Gerry wanted to adopt her ever since. However, the opposition of the biological family did not allow them, even though they could not take care of her, nor did they visit her.

Twenty-four years later, this family approached Puerto Rico Legal Services, Fajardo Service Center, to give way to their heart's desire of formalizing what has been their family for so long through adoption.

For Sherri, reciprocating her adoptive parents for the attention and assistance they gave her since she was a child became more important now when they have suffered health problems. Because she was not recognized as their daughter, she faced difficulties in assisting them with their illness and treatment. For Ana it was doubly significant because she too had been adopted.

Attorney Barbosa, who handled this case, submitted the adoption petition to the Fajardo Court. Being already a young adult and having resided with them before reaching 18 years of age, the legal procedure exempts the parents from notifying them, since they no longer hold parental authority. At the hearing, it was possible to verify the love and desire to establish themselves as a family and that there was no legal impediment.

In an emotional hearing, the Fajardo Court granted recognition before the law to this family that already existed de facto.

As we thank you for your support, we vow to continue to help those in need of our services.