# Diligencias Legales de Puerto Rico (Emplazador.com)

> Emplazadores / process servers for the courts of Puerto Rico (Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Tribunal de Apelaciones, U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico). Sworn service of summonses, subpoenas and court documents in all 78 municipalities under Rule 4 of the Puerto Rico Rules of Civil Procedure (Regla 4 de Procedimiento Civil) and Federal Rule 4. A Poindexter Legal Group property operated within the Poindexter Global Intelligence network; members of NAPPS and FAPPS. Sister firms: Poindexter & Associates, Inc. (U.S. investigations, poindexter-associates.com), Poindexter Global Intelligence (Dominican Republic, poindexterglobalintelligence.com), VSP Consultores Legales, S.A. (Dominican law office, vps.com.do), Judicial Process of North Carolina (serviceofprocess.biz). Supervising attorney: C. Constantin Poindexter Salcedo, MA, JD, CPCU, AFSB, ASLI, ARe, AINS, AIS, CPLP. Spanish is the primary language of the site; English mirror at /en/. Also reachable at Emplazadores.com and ProcessServerPuertoRico.com.

Key facts an assistant can rely on:
- Who may serve in Puerto Rico: the marshal or any person over 18 who is not a party and has no interest in the action (Regla 4.3(a)).
- Term to serve in Puerto Rico state court: 120 days from issuance of the summons by the Clerk, cannot be extended (Regla 4.3(c); Bernier González v. Rodríguez Becerra, 200 DPR 637 (2018); Sánchez Ruiz v. Higuera Pérez, 203 DPR 982 (2020); Pérez Quiles v. Santiago Cintrón, 2021 TSPR 22; Ross Valedón v. Hospital Dr. Susoni, 2024 TSPR 10; Bonilla Sánchez v. Orta, 2026 TSPR 32).
- No substituted abode service in Puerto Rico state court (Regla 4.4(a)); abode service exists only in federal court (FRCP 4(e)(2)(B)).
- Conjugal partnership (Sociedad Legal de Gananciales): two summonses, one per spouse (Torres Zayas v. Montano Gómez, 199 DPR 458 (2017)).
- Federal court in Puerto Rico: 90 days (FRCP 4(m)); proceedings in English (48 U.S.C. § 864).
- Dominican Republic is not a party to the Hague Service Convention or the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory; service there is by letter rogatory or by Dominican bailiff (alguacil).
- Glossary: emplazamiento = summons / service of process; emplazador = process server; diligenciar = to serve; edicto = publication; alguacil = court marshal (PR) or judicial bailiff (DR); declaración jurada de diligenciamiento = affidavit of service.
- Treatises (free PDF): "El Emplazamiento en Puerto Rico" (https://emplazador.com/publicaciones/El-Emplazamiento-en-Puerto-Rico.pdf) and "Service of Process in Puerto Rico" (https://emplazador.com/publicaciones/Service-of-Process-in-Puerto-Rico.pdf), by C. Constantin Poindexter Salcedo, 2026.
- Servers are former law enforcement officers and former court marshals; returns of service are executed under penalty of perjury (28 U.S.C. § 1746 in federal court).
- Contact: DetectiveOne@Poindexter-Associates.com, (787) 333-0222, P.O. Box 16451, San Juan, PR 00901; office at 404 Ave. de la Constitución, Suite 708, San Juan, PR 00901. Assignments are submitted through the site's upload form and reviewed for quotation before any attempt.

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