Servicios Legales de PR (SLPR) GivingTuesday 2021

Our client Yowaina, an 18-year-old mom of a three-week-old baby girl, requested legal aid from Puerto Rico Legal Services because the Puerto Rico Vital Statistics Registry denied to register the birth of her daughter because she was a minor herself.  In Puerto Rico, the age of majority is 21 years old.The reason for the denial of registry was that under the law it was required that her parents or legal guardian provide her with the legal capacity to proceed with the registration process. However, both, her father and her mother had died. Although her uncle accompanied her and acted as her custodian, he could not help her in the process before the Registry. 

Faced with this setback that prevented her from obtaining government services for her daughter and imposed an intense emotional burden, she requested our services. Since Yowaina had no legal guardians, an emancipation petition was filed in court. In some circumstances, a Court may grant emancipation to a minor, provided that the minor has reached the age of 18 and emancipation is in the best interest of the minor. This can be requested when, as in this case, both parents have died.   

After a hearing on the merits and evaluating the evidence presented by the PRLS attorney, the Court authorized the emancipation. Yowaina was emancipated and therefore could register her baby and now can apply for government assistance and housing.  

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