Whose debts are after a separation? That is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions by couples in the process of divorcing or who are considering doing so. Faced with that, the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dictated some guidelines that couples should take into account, after the dissolution of a conjugal partnership.

(The solution to protect common property in case of divorce).

according to the high court, the debts that were contracted during the marital union, are from both parties and they cannot be left in charge of only one of its members.

Therefore, according to the Court, when a relationship is broken, in terms of the economic aspect, two moments are generated: first, that the dissolution that extinguishes the legal relationship and, second, the liquidation, where the partible mass is quantified, which is distributes and adjudicates among the members of the couple under the criterion of economic balance.

In these parameters, indicates the Chamber, the current general rule is that debts are socially contracted obligations, «Therefore, for its exclusion, it must be proven that the liability redounded to the exclusive benefit of one of the members of the couple.»

(The alimony fee also applies to ex-partners from free unions).

This was stated by the Court when studying the case of a man and a woman who lived together for more than five years under a de facto marital union. When the conjugal partnership was liquidated, a mortgage loan for 101 million pesos for a home was added as a liability, as well as property taxes and the vehicles they had.

However, in the process that was carried out before a family judge, other debts that the man had assumed such as another mortgage loan or the payments that he had made for 66 million pesos for the home mortgage were not included. The judge denied the request to include these issues, which was confirmed by a Court that said that the current debts of the company are personal.

But the Supreme Court reversed that decision by indicating that the debts acquired while the company was in operation belong to the couple since, presuming otherwise, would generate an equity imbalance.

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The foregoing, because it would imply that while the assets are distributed in equal parts (even those that are taken into account of the debts), the liabilities would be the exclusive responsibility of the person who contracted them.

«The unpaid balance of the obligations acquired in force by the company and that generated between the liquidation process and the approval of the division work, will be borne by the company, that is, the spouses or permanent partners in equal parts. , as occurs with the distribution of social assets”says the decision.

With information from Justice EL TIEMPO
@justiciaET