Expert: Nancy Torres - 7/1/2009

Question
I have been trying to ascertain public records concerning a certain property in Puerto Rico. The property was passed down to my father from his grandmother, which is my great- grandmother in today's terms. My father has been paying the taxes "CRIM" for years on this property. All the paper work is in his name. However, he does not have the deed to this property, and I have been trying to check vital record online to see "who, what, and why" concerning the deed. Can you educate me on what to do and how to go about it? The reason I started looking at the vital records was to see If I could find my great-grandmother "Death Certificate" to get has much information on her as possible. Note my father lives in New York and, nevertheless, all dept of government in Puerto Rico correspond with him via U.S. Mail in New York.

Answer
Hola, Frank.
I'm sorry to say that you won't have any luck trying to get that kind of information in the Internet.  You must first try the Property Registry in Puerto Rico.  You must check the present status of the property in the Property Registry and then get the legal help you need to update the records. To do that, you must visit the office of the Property Registry located in the municipality where your property is located.
If you need a real estate agent in Puerto Rico to get in charge of the kind of services you need in Puerto Rico, here is a link:
http://www.myrealtorinpr.com/

If I can help you further, let me know.
Saludos desde Puerto Rico,
Nancy