P.R. Laws tit. 32, § 1477
A forty-dollar ($40) filing fee shall be paid for each oral or written motion or petition for stay of the hearing on the merits of any litigious civil case heard in the Court of First Instance. A twenty-dollar ($20) filing fee shall be paid in the case of an oral or written motion or petition for stay of a hearing at any other stage or event of the judicial process. Filing fees for stay of proceedings shall apply also to petitions for stay of proceedings made orally before the courts, and in the case such stay is sought by stipulation, each party subscribing the same shall be required to pay such fee independently. In the case of an oral petition, the courts shall ensure strict compliance with the provisions provided herein and order the payment of said fees as soon as possible.
These fees shall be paid by the attorney for the party when, in the written petition for stay, the signature of the represented party does not appear, or when such an agreement does not arise from the oral petition, as affirmed by the attorney. Should the party be in agreement, the latter and not his/her attorney shall be liable for the payment of the corresponding fee.
Except as provided below, every petition for stay of proceedings shall bear the corresponding special stay of proceedings stamp or include attesting evidence of the payment of such fees at the Court Clerk Office, if other payment methods are adopted. The payment of the fee for stay of proceedings shall be automatic and shall not affect the authority and power of the court to deny or grant the stay requested, as applicable, to institute an action for contempt or to impose other sanctions to the parties or their attorneys.
As an exception, the courts may exempt from the payment of the filing fee for stay of proceedings herein provided, when, jointly with a duly grounded petition for stay, the petitioner shows attesting evidence that his/her petition for stay is due to a conflict in schedule caused by the court for summoning the petitioner in his/her absence. When a party or its attorney files a petition for exemption from the payment of the fee for the stay of proceedings, under this exception, it shall not enclose the special stamp corresponding to the fee for stay of proceedings, nor pay it by other means to be adopted in the future, until the court resolves such petition and orders otherwise, if it so determine. If the court does not grant the petition for exemption from the payment of the fee for stay of proceedings provided herein, because the circumstances therefor did not concur, the court shall order the attorney or party filing such petition for stay to pay the corresponding fees at the Court Clerk Office within a term it deems appropriate.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and other instrumentalities, institutions and other natural or juridical persons at present exempted from the payment of the costs and fees prescribed by law shall continue to be exempted from payment of the fee for stay of proceedings herein provided.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall design a special stay of proceedings stamp and sell it according to the regulations in effect regarding internal revenue stamps or any other regulations that he/she may adopt to such effect. Likewise, it may establish the payment of the fee for stay of proceedings provided herein electronically, in coordination with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall use the amounts collected on account fees for the stay of proceedings to defray the expenses and fees of attorneys appointed by the court. Likewise, any surplus shall be appropriated to the Department of Justice so that, according to the existing needs, it may hire institutions to render free legal services to persons with limited financial resources.
History —Mar. 11, 1915, No. 17, p. 45, § 2; Apr. 25, 1942, No. 51, p. 500; July 24, 1952, No. 20, p. 88; June 27, 1969, No. 89, p. 247; June 5, 1973, No. 86, p. 376; July 23, 1974, No. 144, Part 1, p. 667; July 23, 1974, No. 156, Part 1, p. 714; June 30, 1978, No. 90, p. 276, §§ 1, 2; Aug. 12, 1982, No. 4, § 1, p. 219; Aug. 12, 1998, No. 235, § 2; June 3, 2004, No. 137, § 30; July 30, 2009, No. 47, § 5, eff. July 1, 2010.