Restraining Orders

Stalking is a “course of conduct” (two or more incidents) that involves surveillance over a specific person for the purpose of intimidating the person or his/her family members. It could include behaviors such as the following:

• sending unwanted written or verbal communications to a specific person;
• threatening a specific person verbally, in writing, or in an implied (unspoken) way;
• committing acts of vandalism against a specific person;
• repetitive acts of harassment through words, gestures, or actions made with the intention of intimidating, threatening, or following the victim and/or members of her/his family.¹Note: For these purposes, “family” is defined as:
  • your spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or cousin; or any other person related to you by blood or marriage who is part of your nuclear family;
  • a significant other with whom you live or used to live; or someone with whom you are/were dating relationship; or
  • a person with whom you live or used to live in the same house for at least six months before the stalking started.²

¹ 33 L.P.R.A. § 4013(a),(b)
² 33 L.P.R.A. § 4013(c)