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ADAC-Legal-US-PR 0.9.0-draft.1 — Field Vocabulary Guide (Practitioner Edition)

Audience: Puerto Rico attorneys, notarial practitioners, registry and bilingual records professionals

This guide explains the Puerto Rico-specific subset of the US jurisdiction profile.


1. Inheritance

A us-pr matter uses:

  • base ADAC-Legal vocabulary, plus
  • US vocabulary, plus
  • Puerto Rico-specific additions described here

2. When to use us-pr

Use us-pr when Puerto Rico’s bilingual civil-law, registry, or notarial concepts are central to the matter.


3. Document Types (Puerto Rico additions)

Term Meaning in Practice Use When
escrituraPublica Puerto Rico public deed. The document is a public deed in Puerto Rico notarial practice.
testamentoAbierto Open notarial testament. The will is in open/notarial form.
testamentoCerrado Closed testament form. The will is sealed/closed.
testamentoOlografo Holographic testament. The will is handwritten.
demanda Complaint or initiating pleading. Puerto Rico civil pleading terminology should be preserved.
contestacion Answer pleading. Puerto Rico responsive pleading terminology should be preserved.
reconvencion Counterclaim pleading. Puerto Rico local pleading terminology matters.
sentencia Judgment or decision. Puerto Rico judgment terminology should be preserved.
cedulaCitacion Summons or citation instrument. Puerto Rico summons terminology is needed.
certificacionRegistral Registry certification. Property-registry certification is the document type.

4. Matter Types (Puerto Rico additions)

Term Meaning in Practice
sucesion Puerto Rico succession proceeding.
tutela Tutorship proceeding.
incapacidad Incapacity declaration proceeding.
deslinde Boundary-determination proceeding.
interdicto Possessory/interdict action.

5. Custody Actions (Puerto Rico additions)

Term Meaning in Practice
registeredPropertyRegistry Registered in Puerto Rico Property Registry.
depositedNotarialProtocol Deposited in notarial protocol.
registeredDemographicRegistry Registered in demographic registry.

6. Redaction Reason (Puerto Rico addition)

Term Meaning in Practice
vitalRecordConfidentiality Puerto Rico vital-record confidentiality.

7. Common confusions

  • Prefer sucesion over base succession when the Puerto Rico civil-law concept matters.
  • Prefer escrituraPublica over generic notarialAct when the Puerto Rico form is important.
  • Preserve Spanish-derived procedural terms where they carry legal meaning.