In short
The Civil Code of 2020 closes the sociedad de gananciales with a two-item list, and that brevity is the news. Article 532 says the sociedad de gananciales is extinguished by the dissolution or the declaration of nullity of the marriage, or by the conjugal agreement of a different economic régime, in the form the Code provides. Separation in fact does not appear, abandonment does not appear, and neither does one spouse’s unilateral decision. Until one of those two things happens, the society is still alive even if the couple has not lived together for years. Article 533 opens what comes next. When the society is dissolved, whether by the marriage’s dissolution or because the spouses agree a different marital economic régime, its liquidation proceeds, and that liquidation begins with an inventory of the assets and liabilities the society has from that date. Note the timing: the inventory is cut as of the date of dissolution, not the date somebody gets round to making it. The same article adds a human exception that avoids awkward arguments: the inventory will not include the personal effects the spouses ordinarily use, and those effects are delivered to whichever of them survives in case of dissolution by death. What the Code does not say is what counts as an ordinarily used personal effect and sets no value limit, nor does it explain who prepares the inventory, in what form, before whom or within what time, or what happens if it is never made. None of that is in the text and it is not filled in here.
What is it?
They are Articles 532 and 533 of the Civil Code of 2020, opening the Dissolution and Liquidation 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 whose marriage is dissolved or annulled, or who agree a different economic régime.
Requirements
- The sociedad de gananciales is extinguished by the dissolution or declaration of nullity of the marriage.Verified against the official source
- It is also extinguished by the conjugal agreement of a different economic régime, in the form the Code provides.Verified against the official source
- Once dissolved, its liquidation proceeds, beginning with an inventory of the assets and liabilities.Verified against the official source
- That inventory records the assets and liabilities the society has from the date of dissolution.Verified against the official source
- The inventory will not include the personal effects the spouses ordinarily use.Verified against the official source
- Those effects are delivered to whichever of them survives, in case of dissolution by death.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Check there is a cause of extinction
Article 532 names only two: the marriage’s dissolution or nullity, and agreeing another régime.
Step 2: Fix the cut-off date
The inventory records the assets and liabilities the society has from the date of dissolution.
Step 3: Liquidation begins with the inventory
Article 533 sets it as the first step, whether the marriage dissolved or the régime changed.
Step 4: Leave out ordinarily used personal effects
The same article expressly excludes them from the inventory.
Step 5: If dissolution was by death, they go to the survivor
The Code says so: those effects are delivered to whichever of them survives.
Where to do it
These two articles do not define what counts as an ordinarily used personal effect, nor set a value limit on that exclusion. They do not say who prepares the inventory, in what form it must be recorded, before whom it is filed, within what time, or what happens if it is never made. They describe no procedure before a court or a notary, and publish no tariff. Nor do they explain what happens to the patrimony between the date of dissolution and the actual liquidation: that is governed by the post-ganancial community of property, in another chapter, and this site covers it separately. None of those gaps is filled here.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
The most useful thing about these two articles is what they do not say. Article 532 lists only two causes of extinction — the dissolution or declaration of nullity of the marriage, and the conjugal agreement of a different economic régime — and separation in fact is not on that list. Years apart, having moved out, splitting the bills by word of mouth: none of that extinguishes the sociedad de gananciales under this article. It is the costliest confusion in this whole subject, because during that time what each earns keeps entering the common estate. Whoever wants to cut without divorcing has the second route: agreeing a different economic régime, in the form the Code provides. The second thing to pin down is the date. Article 533 requires the liquidation to begin with an inventory of the assets and liabilities the society has from the date of dissolution. That is the cut-off, not the day someone finally sits down to do the sums, which sometimes comes years later. It is worth documenting what there was and what was owed at that moment, because reconstructing it later is the hardest part of the liquidation. And there is a small rule that avoids unpleasant arguments: the inventory will not include the personal effects the spouses ordinarily use. Clothing, everyday objects, do not enter the division. If the society dissolved by death, those effects are delivered to the survivor. The Code does not say what counts as an ordinarily used personal effect and sets no value cap, so that contour is unwritten. MiPRFácil gives no legal or financial advice.
Common mistakes
- Believing separation in fact extinguishes the society: Article 532 does not list it among the causes.
- Thinking a verbal agreement suffices to change régime: the Code requires the form it itself provides.
- Forgetting the marriage’s nullity also extinguishes the society, not only divorce.
- Taking the inventory as of the date it is made rather than the date of dissolution.
- Not documenting the assets and liabilities as of that date and having to reconstruct it years later.
- Putting clothing and everyday objects in the inventory: the article excludes them.
- Looking in the Code for what counts as an ordinarily used personal effect: it does not define it.
- Confusing the liquidation with the post-ganancial community, which governs while it is not liquidated.
Frequently asked questions
We have been separated for years. Is the community over?
Article 532 names only two causes: the marriage’s dissolution or nullity and agreeing a different economic régime.
Can it be ended without divorcing?
The same article admits the conjugal agreement of a different economic régime, in the form the Code provides.
As of what date is the inventory made?
Article 533 says it records the assets and liabilities the society has from the date of dissolution.
Do clothes and everyday items enter the division?
No. The inventory will not include the personal effects the spouses ordinarily use.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico
Poder Judicial
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
September 13, 2026
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Did you find out-of-date information?
Deterioration of a separate immovable used by the family is never payable
Article 535 of the Civil Code of 2020 credits deterioration of privative movables used for the society’s benefit, but excludes that of immovables.
When liquidating the community, support debts are paid before all others
Article 536 of the Civil Code of 2020 orders the society’s debts paid once the inventory is finished, and gives preference to support debts.
What is divided by half is the remainder, not the gross of the common goods
Article 539 of the Civil Code of 2020 divides by half the remainder left in the inventoried estate after all the preceding deductions.
You may ask to be adjudicated the business you ran, as far as your half reaches
Article 541 of the Civil Code of 2020 includes the business you attended particularly and exclusively with preference in your ganancial share.
Divorced but not liquidated: the post-ganancial community
Half and half until it is liquidated, with a credit for the community if one uses common money to buy something.
Prenuptial agreements and the marital property regime
Under the 2020 Code you may agree to separation of property before marrying or during the marriage. It must be by public deed and registered.