About Us

Boricua Legal is a multi-state law firm focused on Puerto Rico’s property, inheritance (probate), and divorce law. Our Puerto Rico lawyers have been representing clients in Puerto Rico since 2008. We have lawyers on the ground in Puerto Rico who can directly work with the different courts and agencies on the island as they need to resolve the case. We practice with the highest ethical and professional standards dictated by the U.S. jurisdictions we belong to (N.Y., TX, CA, MA & C.T., and Puerto Rico) and the American Bar Association Rules of Ethics and Professionalism.

We pride ourselves on maintaining a close relationship with our clients based on trust, responsiveness, and reliability. As a client said, we give “a personal touch to the attorney-client relationship.” You can relax knowing we are taking care of things for you in Puerto Rico while we keep you informed about the process throughout. Sometimes, clients call our offices disappointed because a lawyer and other professionals in Puerto Rico don’t answer their phone calls promptly or they don’t let them know what’s going on in their case. For us, it is a matter of corporate culture. From the beginning, anyone who works with us is selected and trained carefully to serve our clients in the way they deserve. We’ll keep you informed of the details of your case at every stage.

When our local Puerto Rico lawyers serve our clients in Puerto Rico, they do so with support and supervision from our continental U.S. offices in Boston, Massachusetts. We handle client logistics, supervision, document receipt, billing, and other services from our headquarters, while our local Puerto Rico lawyers handle many of the non-essential personal appearances and local responsibilities without having to incur in air travel expenses and lodging. We also represent clients in other states, such as Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, and California.

Our multi-state approach allows us to evaluate your case from a broader multi-angle approach. For example, when a person dies with property in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico? Or when a person dies with a Last Will and Testament in another state but has property in Puerto Rico? You must approach these types of questions with the right approach, not only seeing the Puerto Rico side but also the law of the state involved. By law, only a lawyer licensed in that state can give you an opinion as to that law. We have attorneys licensed in Puerto Rico, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, and California. We can analyze the laws and regulations in those states, compare the property, inheritance, and divorce laws in those states to Puerto Rico law, and look for the best solution.

Sometimes, laws conflict with each other, and approaching it from one direction is a disservice to the client and can cost you dearly. In one case, before the client hired us, their first Puerto Rico lawyers, told them to sell a property in Florida and bring the proceeds to Puerto Rico to be distributed. In that case, Florida law controlled the property and did not belong to the heirs who lived in Puerto Rico, but the lawyer nevertheless brought the money to Puerto Rico and distributed the proceeds incorrectly to our client’s disservice and loss.

For that matter, our Puerto Rico Lawyers carefully assess your specific situation, analyzing different pertinent angles to come up with solutions and your best options. Our Puerto Rico Lawyers are trained both in Puerto Rico and the mainland and understand both systems of law. They can explain the differences and similarities between both systems and represent you with integrity and diligence. Our clients come from all over the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. We provide legal services to the Puerto Rican community on the mainland and anyone with assets (property and bank accounts, etc) in Puerto Rico. We focus on matters of Inheritance, Probate, Estate Planning, Real Estate, and Divorce law with accessibility, flexibility, and ease.

Another thing you should know is that our firm respects your views and takes them into consideration when we develop our legal strategy. We want to listen to you and understand precisely what you need. We know these cases involving family and siblings can be emotionally challenging. Some clients don’t want to litigate against family because of the strain and stress it brings. At our Firm, we understand how central family is to many of our clients. For that reason, we also try to resolve the case in a non-litigious manner first. When possible, we will try to settle the issues without going to court, but we will also be ready to litigate if needed. Either way, we respect your decisions, concerns, and priorities and incorporate them into the case strategy.

An effective and reliable Probate representation strongly depends on how well the lawyer knows and understands the body of law involved. Great lawyers master their area of practice. Some of this knowledge comes from experience. Some come from an education of the highest quality. Puerto Rico Lawyers have it all. With outstanding educational qualifications and more than 40 years of combined experience in Puerto Rico and the U.S. legal systems, our team of Puerto Rico Lawyers will meet your needs while exceeding your expectations, both managing and litigating your case as needed.

Puerto Rico Lawyers can also help you with estate management. What if you live in Massachusetts and your parents left a corporation in Puerto Rico? Can I dissolve it? Can I sell the corporation’s properties? How do I navigate issues with the Puerto Rico Department of State or the P.R. Department of Treasury (Hacienda)? Can I dispose of the assets? Puerto Rico Lawyers can counsel you about the Inheritance Law that applies to your situation. At the same time, our attorneys can guide you through the issues and decisions to dissolve or liquidate the corporation. We work with a team of professionals who can help you at any stage from a distance. You don’t have to travel to Puerto Rico if you don’t want to. Our digital know-how and capacity will facilitate the complex process you face while keeping communication open among shareholders and heirs.

What if you’re one among many heirs of one or more estates? Puerto Rico Lawyers will walk the process with you. We will help you understand the process in plain words so you know what’s going on. What if you are served with a complaint in Spanish that you don’t understand? Puerto Rico Lawyers can also provide translations and bilingual documents you can comprehend. Puerto Rico Lawyers will work with you to solve the issues amicably. However, there are situations where the only way to move the process is to file in court. In Puerto Rico Lawyers are both excellent negotiators and litigators. We will give you cost-efficient options to move your case.

If you receive a complaint from other heirs, you need to move fast to answer in court. Contact Puerto Rico Lawyers. We will counsel on the best strategy and respond promptly and diligently to your legal representation needs. Time is of the essence.

What if you live in Florida and want to execute a Will that includes assets in Puerto Rico? Wouldn’t you want to work with the same team on both sides, a Florida lawyer who is also a Puerto Rico lawyer? With our Firm, you don’t need to retain two attorneys, pay two different retainers, and deal with two different offices communicating. We are highly trained in both systems and can guide you while considering the bigger picture in both jurisdictions.

How we work with Puerto Rico Agencies:

When it comes to Probate Law and Estate Law cases, you want to rely on an experienced lawyer, a legal professional who not only has the credentials and experience but also has the cultural awareness of family values and priorities in Puerto Rico. Our Puerto Rico Lawyers have decades of experience dealing with governmental and administrative agencies in Puerto Rico, like “El CRIM,” which stands for Centro de Recaudaciones de Ingresos Municiapales, “Registro de la Propiedad,” el “Registro Demográfico” and ‘Hacienda.” Because of our years of experience, we have different approaches to engaging with these agencies depending on the legal issue. Sometimes, the legal issue requires diplomacy, patience, and receptive communication; other times, it requires litigation. We approach each case creatively to figure out which approach will work best.

Cultural Awareness:

Given our many years of experience dealing with cases in Puerto Rico, our Puerto Rico Lawyers can guide you through managing or litigating a case with respect and understanding of the Puerto Rican culture while simultaneously thinking outside the box to resolve the problem better. Our Puerto Rico Lawyers will work with you to come up with creative ideas that could make the legal process more manageable and less stressful for you.

Keeping Costs Low:

The Puerto Rico legal system can be complex to navigate, and the financial impact of the process can be a concern. Our Puerto Rico lawyers’ emphasis on creative problem-solving often leads to lower costs for our clients. Granted, given our long-term experience, technical knowledge, and experience in multiple jurisdictions, we are not the most economical option, but by far, we are not the most expensive. We communicate honestly with our clients before we start representation and during the process of addressing our clients’ financial concerns. Our clients typically are not high-net-worth individuals (although we count some as our clients). They are hard-working people who understand professional services and value it. They also value that we make their lives easier, so they don’t have to abandon their lives to go to Puerto Rico to deal with these issues in person. Because they work hard for what they earn, we know that that cost is essential. We always give our clients options to lower costs, such as allowing them to do some leg work so that we can focus primarily on the legal side. We focus our communication on covering multiple issues at a time instead of calling or emailing them with a minor issue or information. (We charge by the hour; therefore, the time we spend on communications, meetings, letters, and other written documents and personal appearances are billed at our standard rate). At the end of the day, we want to resolve their issues because happy clients lead to more referrals. That is why we want to balance our need to “keep the lights on” by charging for our work and our clients’ need to communicate with us and resolve their issues promptly and expeditiously.

Digital versus Old World Legal Practice:

At Boricua Legal, we leverage technology to more efficiently and economically address our client’s legal needs in Puerto Rico by keeping overhead low. Our Firm’s multi-state, decentralized approach allows us to work as a team under our digital umbrella that provides outstanding legal services without having to charge our clients for the expenses of a large and expensive footprint. Our digital approach supports a working atmosphere that promotes flexibility, innovative thinking, and creative problem-solving, directly benefitting our clients and their financial well-being. We use digital tools such as Slack, Zoom, Online Legal Research Tools with Artificial Intelligence, and other online digital platforms to work and communicate more efficiently. These tools allow us to cut office space overhead, secretarial work, billing, and other time-consuming work to be nimbler and more effective for our clients.

Final thoughts about us:

• We count on our team’s high-level education, experience, and cultural awareness to work hard for our clients.
• We work on a case-by-case basis, meaning that we take the time to consider the elements of each specific case, looking into various ways to address your situation creatively and efficiently.
• We work to build an attorney-client relationship based on trust, open communication, and reliability.
• We serve as guides between two legal systems (U.S. and Puerto Rico) so you understand the pertinent issues from both sides.
• Our approach values and emphasizes the highest level of ethical and professional legal services following the highest standards set by the American Bar Association and the controlling ethical standards in the U.S. Jurisdictions we serve.
• Our team stays up to date with continuing legal education that affords us the most recent changes in Inheritance/Estate Law, Probate Law, Real Estate Law, and Divorce law on the island and in other jurisdictions.

Meet Our Founders:

• Attorney Angel J. Silvestrini
• Attorney Blanca G. Silvestrini