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A spouse contracting alone is presumed to act with the other’s consent

Last reviewed: September 13, 2026 — VerifiedPoder Judicial

In short

The Civil Code of 2020 enumerates what the common estate answers for, and does so in two articles best read together. Article 520 lists six causes whose charges and expenses are the sociedad de gananciales’ primary responsibility. The upkeep of the family, the feeding and education of the common children, and of each spouse’s own — note the Code expressly includes children who are not both spouses’. The atenciones de previsión that are part of the right to alimentos, provided they fit the family’s usages and ordinary circumstances. The acquisition, conservation and enjoyment of the common and ganancial goods. The administration and ordinary conservation of either spouse’s privative goods, the most surprising item: the common estate pays the ordinary upkeep of what belongs to one alone. The regular exploitation of the common firms or the practice of each spouse’s profession, art or trade. And the debts and obligations contracted during the society by either spouse. Article 521 looks at the same problem from the creditor’s side. The common and ganancial goods answer for debts contracted by one spouse in exercising the faculties the law or the capitulaciones give them over the management, administration and disposition of those goods in the ordinary exercise of the profession, art or trade; and in the ordinary and good-faith administration of their own goods and interests. And it closes with the sentence that decides most collection cases: it is presumed in these cases that the spouse acts with the other’s consent, while the contrary is not proved.

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What is it?

They are Articles 520 and 521 of the Civil Code of 2020, opening the Charges of the Sociedad de Gananciales section of Chapter IV of Title V of Book Two.

Who can do it?

Married people under the sociedad de gananciales and anyone claiming a debt contracted by one spouse during that society.

Requirements

Documents you need

Cost

Check the current cost with the official agency.

Step by step

  1. Step 1: Identify the expense’s cause

    Article 520 organises the society’s primary responsibility into six causes.

  2. Step 2: Family and children come first

    It includes feeding and educating the common children and each spouse’s own.

  3. Step 3: Privative goods are also kept with common money

    Item (d) puts the administration and ordinary conservation of privative goods on the society.

  4. Step 4: And the debts contracted during the society

    Item (f) includes them, contracted by either spouse.

  5. Step 5: See from where the signer acted

    Article 521: the ordinary exercise of the profession, or good-faith administration of their own.

  6. Step 6: The presumption works for the creditor

    The spouse is presumed to act with the other’s consent while the contrary is not proved.

Where to do it

These two articles do not define the atenciones de previsión that item (b) makes charges of the society, nor who decides whether an expense fits the family’s usages and ordinary circumstances. They do not say what proof suffices to defeat Article 521’s presumption, who may raise it, or before which forum. They describe no procedure, form or term, and publish no tariff. What the society does NOT pay — debts predating it, fines and pecuniary penalties for personal acts — lives in the next article and this site covers it separately. 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

Two items of Article 520 surprise almost everyone. The first concerns children: the society answers for the feeding and education of the common children, and of each spouse’s own. The Code does not limit the charge to children who are both spouses’, and that phrase is written that way in the text. The second is item (d): the administration and ordinary conservation of either spouse’s privative goods are also the society’s primary responsibility. Put another way, the common estate pays the ordinary upkeep of the house one of the two inherited, even though that house is not both’s. That item is worth reading alongside the rules on improvements and credits, because conserving is not the same as improving. The third, and what really decides collection cases, is Article 521’s last sentence: the spouse is presumed to act with the other’s consent, while the contrary is not proved. That presumption puts the burden of proof on whoever wants to take the common estate out of the payment, not on the creditor. And it applies to debts contracted in the ordinary exercise of the profession, art or trade, and in the ordinary and good-faith administration of their own goods and interests. The Code does not say what proof suffices to defeat it. Finally, this article should not be confused with the one that follows: here it says what the society answers for; what it does not answer for — what predates the marriage, fines and penalties for personal acts — is dealt with by Article 522, which also fixes an order of collection and a credit in the society’s favour. MiPRFácil gives no legal or financial advice.

Common mistakes

  • Believing the society answers only for the common children: item (a) includes each spouse’s own.
  • Assuming the common estate pays nothing on a privative good: it pays its ordinary conservation.
  • Confusing conserving with improving: conservation is a charge, improvement creates a credit under other articles.
  • Believing the creditor must prove the other spouse’s consent: it is presumed.
  • Thinking the presumption admits no proof to the contrary: the article expressly admits it.
  • Applying the presumption to any debt: it covers the two cases Article 521 enumerates.
  • Looking in the Code for what the atenciones de previsión are: it does not define them.
  • Reading Article 520 without 522 and believing the society also answers for personal fines.

Frequently asked questions

Does the common estate pay for a child who is not both ours?

Article 520(a) includes the feeding and education of the common children and of each spouse’s own.

Who pays the upkeep of a privative good?

Article 520(d) makes the administration and ordinary conservation of privative goods the society’s primary responsibility.

My partner signed a debt without me. Does the common estate answer?

Article 521 makes it answer in the two cases it lists, and presumes they acted with your consent while the contrary is not proved.

Can that presumption be defeated?

The article admits it: the presumption governs while the contrary is not proved. It does not say what proof suffices.

Official sources

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

Last verified

September 13, 2026

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