Update from Vieques

Thom Denton from the Bravos Boyz posed this on Facebook, and I thought it would be good for you to also take a look at what I can only describe as encouraging news from within Vieques.

* * *

“Another very helpful update from Vieques.

“Alvin Lee Gsmd gave an excellent and accurate update earlier post…I left on the last VQS – Fajardo 430 ferry yesterday. The boardwalk Malecon getting cleaned up really well and a good bit of manpower working on carpentry for all Esperanza….Morales & portales are very well-stocked of course with the exception of fresh vegetables and the Meats are spotty but then again aren’t they always on Vieques? The 2 o’clock meetings in the Square are very good…Jay Gonzalez, Mark Martin and his crew are doing an excellent job relaying information to resident and addressing concerns as they come up, compassionate understanding and listening manner. I went to 4 meetings and multigenerational as well as gringo residents walked away having any questions answered or a promise of being looked into. Extremely professional. Vieques Love is truly impressive beyond any doubt!!!!

“There are just a few spots on the hills without water mainly due to pipes. Kuhns sombrero & Yate are up and running, Als should be by today, Tsunami closed but green store, Mambos and lighthouse all good too.. the gas lines are long but NOT as angry / tense as I witnessed on mainland… VQS is showing their true colors and sense of community.. many small businesses and food trucks popping online every day. I think this is the first time in my life I’ve ever made a trip to see my parents in not had Lydia’s cheese bread 🙂

“the Val office downtown is not open yet you have to go out to the airport butCape areo taxi and Val all have someone downstairs ready and able to answer questions. The post office should have finished sorting out the backlog and I believe were beginning to distribute yesterday. The banks are slightly touch and go and I think you may be able to make deposits by now… I have a Verizon phone and was able to jump on Claro at the fort and make two calls to my wife…the temporary Tower downtown which will cover a 2 mile radius was in progress of being built… The entire island seems to go a little better as long as the ice plant can keep their generator up and going. It’s a big morale boost for a cold beverage at home as well as keeping the coolers cold… absolutely everyone is cleaning up their yards but also waiting for the hopeful convoys of electrical repair trucks which other than a half dozen guys I did not see unfortunately…

“ALL VQS residents continue to amaze me with resilience…

“TRAVEL- a flight VQS- SJU would be the least painful as always….taxis are tough to find in Fajardo at the 430 crossing… I befriended some locals that live in Condado and gave me a lift…there are zero hotel rooms in San Juan / isla verde due to FEMA and federales getting all the rooms…. on the way to VQS we slept outside in SJ until we found a ride to Cieba in the morning…on the way home I slept in SJU for 11 hours waiting for my flight which got out without a hitch at 10am however I noticed.. almost 90% of flights leaving SJU prior to 730 were canceled Just an FYI USDA opens up lines 5 o’clock and 6 o’clock… you can get cell service in the terminal but Wi-Fi was definitely a longshot. Plenty of food and stores open at the airport.. I suggest camping out near a wall outlet 🙂

“I’ve heard mixed rumors about the W, whether they’ll reopen again or not ( I only care due to tourism $$ and local employment) a new friend of mine Lalo (spelling?) a very hard Vieques worker was let go under the impression they wouldn’t reopen… driving by cosmetically other than the outside Wall, it ‘looked’ not bad at all… looks can be deceiving I know but for the island sake I hope they reopen… can’t believe their roofs held…

“I (my family) has been through Hugo, Georges, Irma & Maria on Vieques… if I know one thing it’s that Vieques is a survivor and it’s solely because of its residents sense of community and faith, both of which they have in spades. God bless Vieques!”

ViequesLove – Facebook

There is an initiative by well known Kelly Thompson called “ViequesLove” which has proven to be highly successful in bringing much needed help to Vieques.

If you are looking for a way to help Vieques search for “viequeslove” on Facebook.

Very truly yours,

Santiago F. Lampón

A brief note after hurricane María

Maria hit Puerto Rico very hard and the law firm was no exception.  While we did not suffer much damage, there is no electricity, Internet, phone and water services.  Our staff and families are all doing well, but most government agencies are closed and we do not have access to the information we need to move our matters forward.  Additionally, the court system remains closed and all hearings and processes have been indefinitely postponed.

Personally, I am doing my best to bring much needed help to Puerto Rico through the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program.  I am inspired by the unity shown by our people and the continued desired to flourish and prosper notwithstanding the circumstances.

If any of you need help in your homes, your areas or know someone that does, send me a note and I will channel it to the Volunteer Ministers who will do their best to help.

The Puertorican Spirit will continue to shine.  Puerto Rico is and will always be “La Isla del Encanto.”

Wishing you all the best,

Santiago F. Lampón

Puerto Rico Forced Heirs Law – Transcript a

Hello!

I hope you are doing great!

I leave you with this transcript on this very important subject!

Enjoy!

Truly yours,

Santiago Lampón

 

Hello and welcome to Puerto Rico legal blog. My name is Santiago Lampón, a real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico forced heirs law. You’ve probably seen a couple, of my videos on the subject and I could probably do tens of videos more about what Puerto Rico forced heirs law has to do with assets that are located in Puerto Rico but that belong to individuals who do not reside in Puerto Rico. That is the first thing that you have to have in mind. If you are a resident of Puerto Rico, if you have made Puerto Rico your primary residence compared to anywhere else in the world, you have to, you better, it is highly recommendable that you become familiarized with Puerto Rico forced heirs law.

 

Now it is a little complicated but it is not impossible to manage. It is actually completely manageable once you know what it implies, what is involved and how you have to work with it. The other thing that you must know and it is number 2 in the list of importance, is that assets that are not located in Puerto Rico are not necessarily subject to Puerto Rico forced heirs law. There is a difference. Location, location, location in real estate, location, location. location in regards to application of law to assets, particularly fixed assets.

 

The other thing is movable assets, well, where are they ? Are they in Puerto Rico? Are they outside of Puerto Rico? The thing is that people who have made Puerto Rico their residence in comparison to people who are not permanent residents of Puerto Rico or should I just say residents of Puerto Rico should understand that there is a significant difference between having assets in Puerto Rico and not having assets in Puerto Rico and the application of Puerto Rico forced heirs law to the non application of Puerto Rico forced heirs law. For example recently and frequently I work with people who are not residents of Puerto Rico, who have assets outside of Puerto Rico, who do their state planning outside of Puerto Rico, but they have to include in that state planning the assets from Puerto Rico. I work together with a lawyer to make sure that everything is where it supposed to be, the way that it is supposed to be, and the number one resource you have is knowledge, if you know then you can control it. If you don’t know, then you are going to feel wabbely, shaky and concerned and worried. You don’t need to, just find the right information, apply to your situation and you will come out aware. Again my name is Santiago Lampón, a real estate lawyer in Puerto Rico. I am also a notary which means I also work with will and state so please if you have a question send me an email, give me a phone call and you are always invited to watch my videos or read my articles and I just hope you have a great day.

Tittle Clearing in Puerto Rico – Transcript

Hello to you!

I am leaving you with this transcript on how tittle clearing works in Puerto Rico and how I can help you! It is not hard, but it becomes even easier when you have the data.

Truly yours,

Santiago Lampón

Hello, my name is Santiago Lampon, I am a real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico and welcome to Puerto Rico legal blog.

If you have some questions after I speak to you you can send me an email or you can drop me a phone call. I am going to talk about title clearing in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico practice, the notary practice is quite different to that across United States but it does not mean that I cannot be done and that it cannot be understood. It is a matter of knowing the ins and outs of the system, how it works and how we make it work .

Let’s take for example , title clearing. Title clearing in Puerto Rico Obviously refers to the property registry in Puerto Rico. The difference is that the way we put documents in the property registry and the way we remove the liens is different to most of the united states. You need a notary to work on the removal of the liens. They are liens that you can remove without the help of the notary but the notary usually knows the ins and outs of the property registry and depending on the section of the registry has a direct working relationship with that register. The thing is that we know and need to know what needs to be done. The issue is how to get the lien removed, what documents you need , how to prepare them, how to file them, the rights that you need to pay. The thing is that it can be done, we just show you how it gets done . So if you have a title issue in Puerto Rico and it needs to be clear. Recoding of the title needs to be done correctly or a lien has to be removed so that the title is completely clean , we can help you. The point is that we need to know what the lien is ,why was the lien recorded, who was it recorded against because we have a lot of [Inaudible] in Puerto Rico. How do identify if that line belongs to that property , that’s the thing. So title clearing and lien removal in Puerto Rico is completely doable. If you have a question about how to do it , how to solve property foreclosing, give me a call or send me an email. Again my name is Santiago Lampon, a real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico and I hope you have a great day.

Tittle Clearing in Puerto Rico

Good morning!

How are you? I hope you are doing very well and that you had a spectacular weekend.

I leave you today with this video on Tittle Clearing in Puerto Rico!
Enjoy!

Yours,

Santiago Lampón

Fundamentals of a Real Estate Closing in Puerto Rico

Good morning!

Here is the transcript for my newest video so you can have it!

I hope you enjoy it and find it very useful and clears up the fundamentals in Real Estate Closing.

Continue to have an amazing week!

Very truly yours,

Santiago Lampón

 

Fundamentals of a Real Estate Closing in Puerto Rico- Transcript 

 

Hello my name is Santiago Lampón and I am a notary and a lawyer in Puerto Rico. I work in real estate. I’m going to discuss briefly as best as I can in a short few minutes the fundamentals of a real estate closing in Puerto Rico. Now, Puerto Rico, a lot of people don’t know or are not aware that Puerto Rico was for over 500 years; Puerto Rico has been a colony. I am going to say under control or influence of other countries. Everything started with Spain. So Puerto Rico legal traditions come from Spain. As you probably know, Spanish is our main language, our number one language.

 

The reason I state this is because the practice of real estate in Puerto Rico is highly influenced if not totally based on Spanish law. So when we practice real estate in Puerto Rico we have a different point of view or different approach on how real estate transactions are done. When you compare it to how it is done in the United States, how they are done in Canada, how they are done in other places etc. For example: Latin American. So it is fundamentally important that you understand that difference. Why? Because it opens the door to understanding that you are going to have to familiarize yourself with something new. Of Course that is part of my job, familiarize you with that which is new for you, which is not new for me.

 

The other thing, which is also fundamental, is that you understand that even though the system is different the results are exactly the same, recordable, marketable, clean, clear title. What I like about our system is that it works really, really, it works. Let me tell you one of the things I do. All of the documents that we prepare for our real estate closings when the person is coming from the United States or Canada or elsewhere, we do them in their language, we do them in English. Because even though it is Spanish, our main language is Spanish, the system tolerates and welcomes documents in English. So why not prepare them in English. You see? The other thing is that though we have formats for documents which are significantly difficult to what you may be used to across the United States and Canada again, when you look at the document and you study it and we take you through the document and we show you the different sections, you start going ah. When you are done you really understand the transaction. Then you become very happy. Again my name is Santiago Lampón, I am a real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico. Send me an email, give me a phone call, if you have any questions and I hope you have a great day.

Fundamentals of a Real Estate Closing in Puerto Rico

Hello !

I hope you had a fantastic weekend.

I leave you here this video with very useful information.

I hope you have an amazing and productive week!

Wills in Puerto Rico – Why they work?

Good morning!

I hope you are having a fantastic week.

Here  I am giving you the transcript of my latest video, so it is clearer to you or  to a friend, so everyone who needs it can have this information.

Expect more videos and useful information very soon!

Truly yours,

Santiago Lampón

Wills in Puerto Rico – Why they work? – Transcript 

 

Hello my name is Santiago Lampón. I am real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico and welcome to Puerto Rico legal blog. I am going to discuss in this episode wills in Puerto Rico. I have other videos about wills not made or not created in Puerto Rico. But I want you to see the other side of the coin through this video that I am going to share in this few minutes.

 

Wills in Puerto Rico are very formal. When I say very formal they have to be the most formal and also formidable wills on the whole planet. I may be exaggerating it, the whole Spanish system meaning Spain and the one that was developed across Latin America is very similar to Puerto Rico but I am not exaggerating when I say it is formidable. You have to be very specific, it has to be drafted with certain wording, it has to follow certain pattern. There are certain requirements to make sure that the person who is signing the will is in fact the person that the notary is saying is the person signing it. It’s almost like fraud proof, it is iron clad drafting and execution because the formalities not only include what is inside the will it also includes how the will is prepared.

 

My point about this is if you are going to do a will in Puerto Rico, very good. I actually like it. Because as a notary, I and other notaries have to be very thorough about what is asked and what is said and how it is stated in the will. This of course applies, once the will is executed usually you file it, you have to file it, there is a registry for wills, you complete the process but it is not until years later that somebody is going to take a close look at what the notary did and what the party signed and how the deed, because it is a deed, it is a very formal deed. Look for my video about the forms of deeds in Puerto Rico and you will understand, how the deed was executed, how it was prepared and I like it because even though it is very formal it calls for a very specific product. It makes it very clear cut of what should be there and it is there. But there is one thing I want to make clear. It is very important, that the person wanting to do the will goes into very direct and very frequent and specific communication with the notary handling it for him or for her. Don’t assume anything. Make sure that you discuss it in detail with the notary and make sure that you read it with sufficient time and that you understand the process, otherwise you are going to be wondering and wondering, and it is going to be too worry some for you.

 

If you have any questions about this or any other subjects or other videos, send me an email or give me a phone call. Again my name is Santiago Lampón, a real estate lawyer and notary in Puerto Rico. I hope you have a great day.

Wills in Puerto Rico – Why they work?

Good morning!

I hope you are having a wonderful week. I have new videos coming up and this is one of them.

This is about wills in Puerto Rico, so you are more familiar with them!

I hope you enjoy!

Truly yours,

Santiago Lampón