The essentials
- Child support is not limited to money for buying food. It covers the reasonable needs of children according to their circumstances and the resources of those who must support them.
- It is made up of basic support, supplemental support, and, when they arise, extraordinary supplemental expenses.
- The PIPE is not just one more form: it is a sworn statement about your financial reality, and it is corroborated with documents.
- The Court and ASUME are not two names for the same thing. For setting support in the first place, the forum where the claim is filed first takes exclusive jurisdiction; concurrent jurisdiction comes afterwards, over certain matters.
- If there is domestic violence, or you are concerned about your safety, ASUME provides for specific measures: protecting your information and your children's, sending payments to an address you identify as safe, and ruling out direct payment where there is a history of domestic violence. To have those protective measures applied to your file, tell the staff working your case about your concern.
- When the person entitled to support prevails, the law provides that attorney's fees be imposed on the person who owes support, with no need to prove obstinacy.
The statutory texts quoted below are published officially in Spanish. The English renderings here are translations offered for understanding; the Spanish text governs.
What does child support cover?
Child support is not limited to money meant for buying food. It seeks to cover children's needs in keeping with their circumstances and with the financial resources of the people responsible for supporting them.
To understand an award, it helps to distinguish between the parts it is made up of.
| Part | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Basic support | The child's day-to-day expenses: food, utilities, transportation, entertainment, and clothing, except uniforms. It is calculated under the Mandatory Guidelines. |
| Supplemental support | The proportional share of additional expenses: childcare, when it is needed in order to work or study; education; health care not covered by the medical plan; and housing. It is distributed between the parties. |
| Extraordinary supplemental expenses | Education, health, or housing expenses that do not repeat: those that are non-recurring or occur less often than every 36 months, and those that are unforeseeable, such as a graduation or a surgery. They are addressed as they arise. |
The three parts together make up the total support obligation. Extraordinary expenses are not a separate third award: they are a category within supplemental expenses.
The parts and how they are calculated are set out in the Mandatory Guidelines, Regulation No. 9535 of February 15, 2024.
How is it calculated?
Child support is calculated under the Mandatory Guidelines, taking into account recognized income, applicable deductions, the income reserve, and the child's needs.
The calculation distinguishes between basic support, which is determined using a table and may be subject to certain adjustments, and supplemental expenses, which are generally shared between the parties in proportion to their income. Extraordinary expenses are addressed as they arise, according to their nature and the circumstances of the case.
The final amount will depend on the financial information, the evidence presented, and the particular circumstances of the family. For the full method, you can consult the Mandatory Guidelines for computing child support in Puerto Rico — published in Spanish — or get legal guidance before putting a number on it.
The PIPE: more than a form
The Personal and Economic Information Statement, known as the PIPE, is a sworn statement about each party's financial reality. It covers income, deductions, expenses, debts, property, household composition, and other relevant financial information. It also requires documents that make it possible to corroborate what is reported.
Filling it out carefully is essential. A figure with no explanation, an expense classified incorrectly, or a missing document can affect the analysis of financial capacity.
Court or ASUME?
The Court of First Instance and ASUME, the Child Support Administration, both take part in child support matters. For setting support in the first place, the forum where the claim is filed first takes exclusive jurisdiction to set the award. Once it is set, both forums may have concurrent jurisdiction over certain later matters.
That is what Article 8 of the Organic Act of the Child Support Administration provides — it is titled "Jurisdicción concurrente", 8 L.P.R.A. § 507 — and what the Supreme Court held in Ríos Sánchez v. Narváez Calderón, 163 DPR 611, 620–621 (2004).
This is the difference between the two forums.
| Court of First Instance | ASUME |
|---|---|
| The Child Support Examiner takes part. | The Child Support Specialist takes part. |
| Holds hearings, receives the financial evidence, evaluates it, and performs the calculation. Issues findings and recommendations, and the final order is entered by the judge. | Handles the financial investigation and conducts the stages of the administrative proceeding. If there is an objection or an adjudicative dispute, the matter goes before an administrative judge. |
What neither one resolves. Neither the examiner nor ASUME adjudicates contested disputes over custody, parental authority, or parent-child relations. Those are handled through the corresponding judicial route.
They are not two names for the same function: they are different forums with different procedures.
Establishing and reviewing support
Support can be requested for the first time or reviewed later on. As a general rule, it can be reviewed every three (3) years. A review can also be requested before that term when there is a substantial change in the circumstances of the child, the custodial parent, or the non-custodial parent.
What if one of the parties changes jobs?
A change of job does not automatically lead to a particular outcome. It will be necessary to assess current income, the reason for the change, the children's needs, and the rest of the financial evidence.
If there is domestic violence or a protection order
ASUME provides for these situations expressly and has protective measures available. Some confidentiality rules apply to file information generally; other protective measures require that you tell them about your safety concern.
To have protective measures applied, tell them about your concern
Form ASM-005, the application for child support services, says — this is ASUME's own English wording, printed alongside the Spanish:
If you have any concern for your safety, you must inform your concern to the caseworker. In these circumstances, the official will identify your case in order to take necessary measures, which includes not disclosing your information. In the case that you are the Custodial Person, the information of your children will also be protected.
ASUME also states that its system is set up to flag cases where there is a domestic violence situation, so that the information is handled with greater care. According to the agency, its staff does not give that information to the other party or to third parties without written authorization.
Payments can reach you without revealing where you live
If you have moved for safety reasons, ASUME states that it can send payments to the address you identify as safe for you and your family, or through the Única debit card. You can also request direct deposit at the bank of your choice.
Direct payment is not available where there is a history of domestic violence
Direct payment between the parties is an exception. Article 21 of the Organic Act of the Child Support Administration sets out several requirements that must all be met before the Court can consider that arrangement. One of them is that there be no history of domestic violence.
So where that history exists, the legal requirements for authorizing direct payment are not met. Payments can be channelled through ASUME instead of depending on a private arrangement between the parties.
Support inside a protection order is temporary
Law 54 allows a protection order to include child support where the petitioning party holds custody of the children, or receives it through the order itself.
Article 2.1, subsection (f), of Law 54 provides that the protection order may:
Order the respondent party to pay support for the children where their custody has been awarded to the petitioning party, or for the children and the petitioning party where there is a legal obligation to do so.
Article 2.6 of Law 54 reads:
(a) Every protection order must specifically state the court's findings, the remedies ordered, and the period it remains in force. 8 L.P.R.A. § 626.
ASUME advises that support established as part of a protection order is temporary and, as a general rule, lasts as long as the protection order itself. Even so, it is essential to read the wording of the order itself: it may set a different term, provide that support continues until a Superior Court rules otherwise, or have been modified by another judicial resolution.
For that reason, it is unwise to wait until the order expires. To keep the children from being left without a support order in force, you can ask ASUME or the Court to establish regular support under the Mandatory Guidelines and the family's circumstances.
ASUME can step in to locate the non-custodial parent, establish parentage where that is needed, set, review, or modify support, collect and distribute payments, and use enforcement mechanisms.
If you move out of Puerto Rico
ASUME advises that a custodial parent who moves out of Puerto Rico should contact the child support office in their new state to begin the interstate or intergovernmental process.
Attorney's fees when the person entitled to support prevails
Article 22 of Law No. 5 of 1986, the Organic Act of the Child Support Administration, provides:
Article 22. — Attorney's Fees.
(1) In any proceeding under this Act for the setting or modification of a child support order, or to enforce one, the court or the Administrative Judge shall impose on the person who owes support the payment of attorney's fees in favor of the person entitled to support when the latter prevails.
(2) The court or the Administrative Judge may impose on the person who owes support the payment of attorney's fees in favor of the person entitled to support when provisional support is set.
(3) Where the parties are married to each other and one of the spouses controls all or most of the liquid assets of the conjugal partnership, the court or Administrative Judge shall order the spouse who controls the marital property to pay reasonable attorney's fees to the other spouse immediately, as requested. 8 L.P.R.A. § 521.
There is no need to prove obstinacy. This is the most important difference from the general rule in our legal system. Outside this context, attorney's fees are ordinarily imposed when a party has acted with obstinacy (temeridad). In support cases that is not so. The Supreme Court settled the point expressly in Torres Rodríguez v. Carrasquillo Nieves, 177 DPR 728 (2009), holding that fees may be imposed "without the need for the defendant to act with obstinacy."
The purpose of the rule is that the cost of claiming should not become the reason for not claiming.
How can Equitas help you?
We can help you understand the calculation, prepare and review your financial information, identify the evidence you need, assess a proposed agreement, or represent you before ASUME or the Court.
As for the PIPE in particular, having a lawyer alongside you can help you understand what each item asks for, organize the documentation, identify the information that needs explaining, and prepare to answer questions about your income and expenses.
The help can begin with a single consultation or extend to the stage of the proceeding where you need someone with you. To get started, you can arrange a consultation.
Content current as of September 2026. This article offers general information and does not replace a legal assessment of the particular circumstances of each family. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Sources
These official sources are published in Spanish.
- Law No. 5 of December 30, 1986, Organic Act of the Child Support Administration: Art. 8, concurrent jurisdiction, 8 L.P.R.A. § 507; Art. 21, direct payment of support, 8 L.P.R.A. § 520; and Art. 22, attorney's fees, 8 L.P.R.A. § 521.
- Mandatory Guidelines for setting and modifying child support in Puerto Rico, Regulation No. 9535 of February 15, 2024, official text from ASUME.
- Torres Rodríguez v. Carrasquillo Nieves, 177 D.P.R. 728 (2009), 2009 TSPR 187.
- Child support in cases involving minors, official page of the Judicial Branch of Puerto Rico.
- Ríos Sánchez v. Narváez Calderón, 163 D.P.R. 611 (2004), 2004 TSPR 211. The Judicial Branch does not publish that year's opinions online; the text linked here is LexJuris's. The rule it states is in Art. 8, cited above.
- Law No. 54 of August 15, 1989, Act for the Prevention of and Intervention with Domestic Violence, Arts. 2.1, 2.6, and 2.7, 8 L.P.R.A. §§ 621, 626, and 627.
- Child support and the protection order, official ASUME page.
- Application for child support services, official ASUME page.
- Form ASM-005, application for child support services, "Violencia Doméstica" section, p. 4. This form is bilingual.
- Form ASM-900, petition for child support.
- Form ASM-901, petition to review or modify child support.
These sources were consulted and used as of September 16, 2026. Consult an attorney regarding the currency of this information and these sources.