Skip to content
MiPRFácil
ESEN
Family

When liquidating the community, support debts are paid before all others

Last reviewed: September 13, 2026 — VerifiedPoder Judicial

In short

Once the inventory is finished, the Code does not divide yet: it pays first. Article 536 orders it so and adds a preference worth knowing before sitting down to negotiate: the debts for alimentos have preference. As to the rest, if the inventoried estate does not suffice to pay them, what is provided for the concurrence and prelation of credits is observed — a separate regime the article refers to without reproducing. Article 537 looks at the same moment from outside, from whoever must collect: the creditor of the sociedad de gananciales has, in its liquidation, the same rights the laws recognise in the liquidation of a debtor’s inheritance. That is another remittal, and this guide names it without filling it in, because those rights live elsewhere in the legal order. Article 538 closes the stage with what is owed between the spouses themselves. Once the society’s debts and charges are paid, the recompenses and reimbursements owed to each spouse are credited, as far as the inventoried estate reaches. And it adds a step often forgotten in household arithmetic: if the spouse is debtor to the society, the corresponding compensation must be made first. That is, the recompense is not collected on one side while owing on the other; compensation comes first. What these three articles do not explain is which debts count as support debts for the preference, how the recompenses and reimbursements are calculated or who determines them, nor do they reproduce the rules on the concurrence and prelation of credits or those on liquidating a debtor’s inheritance. None of that is here and this guide does not invent it.

External link

Go to the official site

You'll leave MiPRFácilOpens in a new tab

bvirtualogp.pr.gov

What is it?

They are Articles 536, 537 and 538 of the Civil Code of 2020: paying the debts, the creditor’s rights, and crediting recompenses and reimbursements when liquidating the community.

Who can do it?

Married people under the sociedad de gananciales in liquidation, and that society’s creditors.

Requirements

Documents you need

Cost

Check the current cost with the official agency.

Step by step

  1. Step 1: Close the inventory first

    Article 536 opens: once the inventory is finished, the society’s debts shall be paid.

  2. Step 2: Alimentos come first

    The same article says the debts for alimentos have preference.

  3. Step 3: If it does not suffice, there is a separate order

    What is provided for the concurrence and prelation of credits is observed, not reproduced here.

  4. Step 4: The creditor collects as in an inheritance

    Article 537 gives them the same rights as in liquidating a debtor’s inheritance.

  5. Step 5: Then come recompenses and reimbursements

    They are credited to each spouse as far as the inventoried estate reaches.

  6. Step 6: But first what you owe is compensated

    If the spouse is debtor to the society, the corresponding compensation must be made first.

Where to do it

These three articles do not define which debts count as support debts for Article 536’s preference. They do not reproduce the rules on the concurrence and prelation of credits, to which that same article refers when the estate does not suffice. Nor do they reproduce the rights the laws recognise to the creditor in liquidating a debtor’s inheritance, to which Article 537 refers: both remittals are named here and not filled in. They do not say who calculates the recompenses and reimbursements, by what method or as of what date. They name no forum, form or term, and publish no tariff. None of those gaps is filled here.

How long it takes

Check the current processing time with the official agency.

What to do if something goes wrong

The order this stretch of the Code fixes is what avoids the most arguments, because people tend to sit down to divide before paying. Article 536 says it unambiguously: once the inventory is finished, the society’s debts shall be paid. Only afterwards is there anything to divide. And within that payment there is a written hierarchy: the debts for alimentos have preference. If the inventoried estate does not suffice for the rest, the Code does not improvise a new order: it requires observing what is provided for the concurrence and prelation of credits, which belongs to another regime and is only named here. Likewise, Article 537 does not describe the creditor’s rights but equates them: they have in the liquidation the same rights the laws recognise in liquidating a debtor’s inheritance. Two consecutive remittals, both flagged in this guide without being completed, because completing them would be inventing. Article 538 moves the most money between the spouses themselves and is the most forgotten. Once debts and charges are paid, the recompenses and reimbursements owed to each are credited, as far as the inventoried estate reaches. That is where all the credits that appeared during the marriage come in: what the society put into a privative good, what a spouse paid out of pocket for a common charge, what was paid for fines or earlier debts. But the same article sets a prior step that changes the result: if the spouse is debtor to the society, the corresponding compensation must be made first. That is, both directions are netted before anything is credited. And the phrase as far as the inventoried estate reaches matters: if there is not enough, recompenses are collected only so far as it goes. MiPRFácil gives no legal or financial advice.

Common mistakes

  • Sitting down to divide before paying the debts: the Code pays first and divides after.
  • Ignoring that support debts have preference over the rest.
  • Expecting the Code to enumerate which debts are for alimentos here: it does not.
  • Looking in this chapter for the order when the estate falls short: it refers to prelation of credits.
  • Believing the society’s creditor is unprotected: they are equated to an inheritance creditor.
  • Forgetting to claim the recompenses and reimbursements accumulated during the marriage.
  • Claiming the recompense without first deducting what is owed to the society: compensation comes first.
  • Treating full recompenses as certain: they are credited as far as the inventoried estate reaches.

Frequently asked questions

What is paid first on liquidation?

Once the inventory is finished the society’s debts are paid, and support debts have preference.

And if the estate does not suffice?

Article 536 requires observing what is provided for the concurrence and prelation of credits, not reproduced here.

What rights does the society’s creditor have?

The same the laws recognise in liquidating a debtor’s inheritance, per Article 537.

I am owed a recompense but also owe. How is it done?

Article 538 says that if the spouse is debtor to the society the corresponding compensation must be made first.

Official sources

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

Last verified

September 13, 2026

MiPRFácil is an independent informational website and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the Government of Puerto Rico or any government agency.

MiPRFácil does not submit applications on your behalf.

Was this guide helpful?

Did you find out-of-date information?

Did you find out-of-date information?

No account needed. We don't ask for personal data.