When no prenuptial agreement is made, the property regime that governs the relationship between spouses, to regulate their financial relations during the marriage, is the regime of acquired community. Therefore, in the event of divorce, if the ex-spouses wish to share the common assets of the couple, each of them will receive their own property and their share of the common property, meaning that each will return what they owe to the common estate, as stated in Article 1689, paragraph 1 of the Civil Code.
The division is made by delivering to each ex-spouse their own property. After this delivery, a review of each spouse's debts to the common estate will be conducted, determining the value of the net common assets. If there are liabilities, the communicable debts will be paid up to the limit of the determined common estate, and only after that will the remaining debts be paid, namely, the compensations between the spouses, which will be paid from the share of the debtor spouse in the common estate.
If, after paying the common debts, there are not enough common assets, the compensation between the ex-spouses will be paid through the own assets of the debtor ex-spouse. If, after these operations, there is common property, it will be divided equally, with 50% going to each ex-spouse.
The regulation of the spouses' debts is outlined in Articles 1690 and following of the Civil Code, which lists, among other things, the debts that are the responsibility of both spouses, those that are the responsibility of only one spouse, and those that burden donated or inherited assets, etc. It is also in this section of the Civil Code that the compensations due for the payment of the couple's debts (Article 1697) are regulated, meaning debts that are the responsibility of both spouses and that were paid through the own assets of only one of them, in which case that spouse becomes a creditor of the other for the amount they paid in excess of what was their obligation.
This article thus enshrines the right to compensation for the spouse who paid more than their obligation regarding common debts; however, this right to compensation can only be exercised at the time of dividing the common assets of the ex-couple, unless the spouses are under the regime of separation of property. In other words, if the property regime is separation, there is no division to be made, as there are no common assets, and if during the marriage one spouse pays with their own assets the debts of the other spouse, they can demand immediate payment of that debt. Conversely, if a spouse married under the regime of acquired community pays with their own assets the entirety of a common debt only after the divorce, they can demand the portion they paid that was the responsibility of the other spouse during the division.
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