Título IX. Testimonios

Testimonio is the faithful copy of the master deed, of the authentication or legalization notation, or of the record of protocolization, drawn up on the corresponding stamped paper, and sealed and signed by the authorizing Notary, or by the person who must substitute for him, in accordance with the present law.

The certified copies shall be issued by the authorizing Notary; by the public official who has the protocol in his possession, if he is legally authorized to perform notarial functions, or by the notary expressly entrusted by the authorizing Notary who is temporarily prevented from doing so.

Certified copies may also be issued:

a)By means of printed copies on stamped paper which may be completed by typewriting or handwriting; and

b)By means of photostatic or photographic copies of the instruments, in which cases the certified copies shall be completed with a sheet of stamped paper, on which the final notation shall be entered and the respective stamps shall be affixed.

The director of the General Archive of Protocols shall issue certified copies of the public instruments contained in the protocols held in said archive, upon verbal request of any person, with the exception of acts of last will in accordance with Article 75; and if he is unable to do so for any cause, the Secretary of the Supreme Court of Justice shall do so, or the notary designated by the President of the Judicial Branch for the case.

For deeds of alienation of immovable property or of rights in rem and encumbrances thereon to be registrable in the Register of Immovable Property, it is an indispensable requirement that there be inserted in the respective certified copy the certificates of clearance for the three-per-thousand territorial tax and for municipal taxes, or the receipts evidencing payment for the last quarter, and the certificates of payment of the alcabala tax or of the inheritance or donation tax, as applicable, or that said original certificates accompany the certified copy.

Together with the certified copy of the deed, a duplicate on stamped paper of the lowest value, clearly legible, which may be prepared with carbon paper, shall be submitted to the Register of Immovable Property.

The sheets of the Testimonio shall be numbered, sealed and signed by the Notary. At the end of the instrument shall be indicated the number of sheets of which it is composed, the persons to whom it is issued, and the place and date on which it is issued.

The protocolized documents or proceedings shall be considered as part of the respective deeds, and consequently shall be inserted in the testimonio. If the protocolized document contains a plan, the testimonio shall additionally be accompanied by a certified copy thereof, with an endorsement sealed and signed by the Notary, in which its identity shall be stated.

If the certified copy is issued by judicial mandate, the order directing it shall be inserted; and if it is issued by a notary on behalf of another, such circumstance shall be indicated.

The Notary is obligated to issue a testimonio or legalized plain copy to the grantors, their heirs or assignees, or to any person who requests it.

If the Notary refuses to issue a testimonio, the judge of First Instance, after a hearing granted to him for twenty-four hours to state the reasons he may have for refusing, shall issue the decision that is appropriate; and if it orders that the testimonio be issued and the Notary does not obey it, he shall order the seizure of the respective volume of the protocol and shall designate the Notary who is to issue it.

While the grantor of a will or donation by reason of death is alive, a certified copy or copy of the instrument may be issued only to him.

The notary may not be compelled to issue a testimonio unless the expenses and fees for authorization of the instrument have been paid to him, and unless those for issuance of the testimonio, in accordance with the fee schedule, have been advanced to him.