Puerto Rico Process Server Summons and Subpoena Service in All 78 Municipios

Who may serve the summons and complaint

Regla 4.3(a) lets the alguacil (the court marshal) serve, or any other person who is at least 18 years old and can read and write, provided the person is not a party, not a party’s lawyer, not a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity or the second degree of affinity, and has no interest in the case. Served 123 LLC arranges service through servers who meet that test.

Regla 4.3(a)

The summons issues with the complaint

The plaintiff files the summons form together with the complaint for the clerk to issue at once (Regla 4.1), and Regla 4.3(c) has the clerk issue the summonses the same day the complaint is filed. If the clerk does not, the days of delay become extra time the court grants for service once the plaintiff has made a timely request for an extension.

Reglas 4.1, 4.3(c)

The 120-day service window

Under Regla 4.3(c) the summons must be served within 120 days of the filing of the complaint, or of the date a summons by edict was issued.

Regla 4.3(c)

When the 120 days run out

Once the term passes without service, the court must enter judgment dismissing the case without prejudice. A second dismissal for missing the same term operates as an adjudication on the merits.

Regla 4.3(c)

Delivering the papers to an adult

The summons and the complaint are served together, either by handing them to the defendant or by making them accessible in the defendant’s immediate presence. An adult is served personally, or through an agent the adult authorized or one designated by law to receive a summons.

Regla 4.4(a)

Minors, wards and patients

A child under 14 is served through a parent with patria potestad or a guardian; if they are not on the island, through whoever has the child in their care or lives with the child. A minor of 14 or older is served personally and through a parent with patria potestad or the guardian. A person judicially declared incapacitated is served along with the guardian; a person held in a mental health institution without that declaration is served along with the director of the institution, and a plaintiff with reasonable grounds to believe the defendant is mentally incapacitated must tell the court.

Regla 4.4(b), (c)

People in a correctional institution

An inmate is served personally, and a copy also goes to the director of the institution.

Regla 4.4(d)

Companies, partnerships and associations

Under Regla 4.4(e) any corporation, company, partnership, association or other juridical person is served through an officer, an administrative manager, a general agent, or any other agent the entity has named, or one designated by law, to receive a summons. A conjugal partnership (sociedad legal de gananciales) is served by delivering copies to both spouses.

Regla 4.4(e)

Corporations organized on the island

Every corporation keeps a resident agent, whose office is open during business hours to receive a summons (art. 3.02). Article 12.01(A) allows personal delivery to any officer or director on the island or to the registered agent, or leaving the copy at the usual home of an officer, director or individual agent, or at the designated office or another place of business. A copy left at a home or office must be left in the presence of an adult at least six days before the hearing date, and the server states the manner of service in the notice; when appearance is immediate, the copy goes to the officer, director or resident agent in person. A corporate resident agent is served through its president, vice president, secretary, assistant secretary or any director.

Ley 164-⁠2009, arts. 3.02, 12.01(A)

When no authorized person can be found

If, with due diligence, no person authorized to receive it can be served under article 12.01(A), service on the corporation proceeds under the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Ley 164-⁠2009, art. 12.01(B)

Corporations from elsewhere

A foreign corporation authorized to do business here is served through its resident agent; with no resident agent, any officer, director or agent found on the island counts as its agent. Mail with a return receipt to the corporation’s secretary at its designated office is allowed when it has no resident agent or the agent cannot be served with reasonable diligence. Service may also go through the Secretary of State, filed in duplicate; the Secretary of State then notifies the corporation by certified mail with a return receipt. A foreign corporation doing business without authorization is treated as having made the Secretary of State its agent to receive a summons.

Ley 164-⁠2009, arts. 13.11, 13.13

Limited liability companies

Every LLC keeps a registered office and a resident agent here, and an LLC is served under Chapter XII of the corporations law, the same article 12.01 used for corporations. A foreign LLC is served as article 13.11 provides for foreign corporations.

Ley 164-⁠2009, arts. 19.04, 19.05, 20.07

Government bodies and officials

The Commonwealth is served through the Secretary of Justice or a person that office designates. An official or a government instrumentality that is not a public corporation is served through the official or the instrumentality’s chief executive, and the plaintiff also delivers a copy to the Secretary of Justice or that office’s designee. A public corporation is served as Regla 4.4(e) provides, and a municipality through its chief executive or the person that officer designates.

Regla 4.4(f), (g), (h)

A defendant outside the island

The courts reach anyone, domiciled or not, with contacts that make jurisdiction consistent with the constitution (Regla 3.1). When the court has jurisdiction over a defendant who is not on the island, Regla 4.3(b) allows five routes: personal delivery under 4.3(a); the method the law of the place of service uses in its courts of general jurisdiction; letters rogatory to the foreign country where the defendant is; edict under Regla 4.6; or as the court directs.

Reglas 3.1, 4.3(b)

Service by edict (publication)

The court may order an edict when the defendant is outside the island, cannot be found after diligent efforts, hides to avoid service, or is a foreign corporation without a resident agent, shown by a sworn statement describing the efforts. A failed attempt is not required first. The edict runs once in a newspaper of general circulation on the island, and within ten days after publication a copy of the summons and complaint goes to the defendant by certified mail with a return receipt. Unknown defendants are served by edict. Publication is proved by the newspaper’s sworn statement with a copy of the edict.

Reglas 4.6, 4.7

Waiver of personal service

A defendant has a duty to avoid the costs of personal service. The plaintiff may request a waiver by certified mail with return receipt and restricted delivery, with a copy of the stamped complaint naming the court. The defendant has 20 days from the mailing to return it, or 30 days if outside the island, and then 30 days from the return of the waiver to answer. A defendant who fails without good cause pays the costs of service, plus the plaintiff’s lawyer’s fees for that step. The case proceeds as if served on acceptance of the waiver, no proof of service is required, and the defendant keeps every defense of lack of jurisdiction or venue. Waiver is not available against the Commonwealth, its agencies, corporations, instrumentalities, municipalities or officials, or against minors or incapacitated persons.

Regla 4.5

Proof of service

The person who serves notes on the back of the copy of the summons, over a signature, the date, place, manner of delivery and the name of the person served. Regla 4.7 has that person file proof of service in court within the time the defendant has to appear: a certification from an alguacil, or the sworn statement of a private server. Service outside the island is shown by a sworn statement that every requirement was met, or by the judge’s order. Failing to file proof does not affect the validity of service; an admission of service, a waiver or an appearance makes proof unnecessary, and the court may allow a summons or its proof to be amended.

Reglas 4.4, 4.7, 4.8

Time to answer and service defenses

A defendant answers within 30 days of being served or of publication of the edict, and within a 60-day term that cannot be extended for the government parties Regla 10.1 lists. Insufficient summons and insufficient service of the summons are defenses that may be raised by motion, and both are waived when Regla 10.8(a) says so.

Reglas 10.1, 10.2, 10.8(a)

Subpoenas (citaciones)

A subpoena is issued by the clerk at a party’s request, or by an admitted lawyer who has appeared for that party, and a deposition subpoena may require attendance only where the witness lives, works or does business in person. An alguacil or any other person at least 18 years old may serve it, by delivery to the witness or as Regla 4.4 provides for personal service. A subpoena requiring attendance must carry a check or money order for the per diem and mileage the law authorizes, which is not needed when the government issues it. It must be served at least 20 days before compliance, except a subpoena to a trial or hearing. Proof is a copy of the subpoena with the server’s sworn statement, or an alguacil’s certification, stating the date, form and manner of service and to whom it was delivered. When a witness hides, the court may order service by the alguacil on a sworn showing.

Reglas 40.2, 40.3, 40.8

Subpoenas from other states

Regla 40.6, as amended in 2026, adopts the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act. A deposition or document subpoena from a jurisdiction that has adopted the uniform law is served under Regla 40.3, handled by the litigants or lawyers from that jurisdiction; if the alguacil is asked to serve it, the requesting party pays the cost of service. The witness protections and response duties of Reglas 40.4 and 40.5 apply, and a motion about the subpoena is filed in the court for the place where discovery happens. In the other direction, a party in a local case may ask the clerk for a subpoena to a witness in another United States jurisdiction, served under that state’s law; a witness abroad is reached by a commission or letter of request.

Regla 40.6

How days are counted

The day of the act is not counted. The last day counts unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, and the term then runs to the end of the next day that is none of those. A half holiday counts as a whole one. The clerk’s offices close on Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and the Supreme Court may extend any term for good cause by resolution. Article 388 of the Political Code counts time the same way, excluding the first day and including the last unless it is a holiday.

Reglas 65.1, 68.1; Código Político art. 388

Legal holidays that move a deadline

Article 387 of the Political Code makes Sundays holidays, along with January 1, July 4, July 25, December 25, every general election day and every day the President, the Governor or the Legislative Assembly fixes; one that falls on a Sunday moves to the Monday. Ley 26-2017 lists the public holidays: January 1, January 6, the third Monday of January, the third Monday of February, March 2, March 22, Good Friday, the last Monday of May, July 4, July 25, July 27, the first Monday of September, the second Monday of October, November 11, November 19, the fourth Thursday of November and December 25. Ley 305-2002 adds December 24 from noon, and general elections fall every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

Código Político art. 387; Ley 26-⁠2017, art. 2.05; Ley 305-⁠2002; Ley 58-⁠2020, art. 9.1

Rules verified October 2026 against the Reglas de Procedimiento Civil de 2009 (Reglas 3.1, 4.1 to 4.8, 10, 40, 65.1 and 68.1, as amended through Ley 178-2026), the General Corporations Law, Ley 164-2009 (arts. 3.02, 12.01, 13.11, 13.13, 19.04, 19.05 and 20.07), the Political Code of 1902 (arts. 387 and 388), Ley 26-2017 (art. 2.05), Ley 305-2002 and the Electoral Code, Ley 58-2020 (art. 9.1), as compiled by the Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto. General information, not legal advice. The rule controls.