To petition for a Declaration of Heirs in Puerto Rico, the first step is to verify if the deceased did not leave any testament among his or her personal items. After a thorough search of the deceased’s documents, the next step is to apply for a Negative Will Certification from the Puerto Rico Testament Registry (Certificación Negativa de Testamento del Registro de Testamentos de Puerto Rico in Spanish).
This Registry is mandatory for any will drafted by a Public Notary in Puerto Rico, and in order to verify that the deceased did not draft a will, this Certification is necessary to petition for a Declaration of Heirs.
The Certificacion can be solicited by:
Oficina de Inspección de Notarías
Registro de Poderes y Testamentos
PO Box 190860
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-0860
Once you obtain the Certification, the process to petition the Declaration of Heirs can begin.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download the application, click here to get it: 
Dear Mr. Frank:
Nice article. Very informative. But, I would like to know how do someone proves to the Court of Law (in PR), your entitlement to a deed or property without a will. And how do you search such records in Puerto Rico? Thank You very much for your anticipated response.
Thank you for your comment.
The first step necessary in order to claim a property is to be named as heir to the estate. Without a will, this is accomplished by filing for a Declaration of Heirs. Once someone is named as heir, that heir can administrate, initiate the estate division process, or claim his/her rights as part of the estate.
Searching for a will is easy in Puerto Rico. All wills must be registered in the PR Will Registry, which is a dependency of the PR Supreme Court. Here you will find additional information: http://www.boricualaw.com/2008/05/15/no-will-no-problem-2/
Searching for real estate properties is a little harder. The Center for Collection of Municipal Taxes (CRIM in Spanish), can be searched to find real estate property taxes, which in turn may prove useful in identifying properties. Finally, a thorough PR Property Registry search may prove useful, but many Property Registries have a severe delay in registering land transfers.
Finally, retaining the services of legal counsel in order to conduct an Estate Investigation is highly advisable, although very few attorneys in Puerto Rico seem to carry out this service.
I underdtand about get a negative will certification before been able to obtain a declaration of heirs, but What is the steps to obtain the Declaration of heirs?What forms do I have to fill it out? How many stamps(sellos) do I need? It’s there an address where I can mail the form? Thank you for your assistance!
Thank you for your comment and questions.
I ALWAYS recommend to retain legal counsel to file a Declaration of Heirs. It is one of those legal filings where it is VERY easy to make mistakes, and these mistakes have terrible repercussions throughout the subsequent estate division. It may seem like a simple matter, but it requires drafting the document with the utmost care and complying with all the legal formalities of a writ to the court. Like many legal filings in Puerto Rico, it is not a form that you simply fill out and submit to the court. It requires a few hours of drafting from scratch, and the inclusion of the proposed judgment to be issued by the court.
Also, since it is the very first filing for an estate division, if a simple mistake is made, it may affect the complete estate division in the long run, which may have catastrophic consecuences.
This is why I have NEVER discussed the intricacies of the filing itself on my webpage.