Can my assets be attached (seized) for someone else's debt?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In principle, no. The person liable for a debt is the debtor, with their own assets, not their relatives or the people who live with them. For a debt owed by your child or another relative, only that relative's assets can be attached, even if they are in your home. You are liable, however, if you undertook to pay it, as a guarantor or as a co-debtor, if you accepted the inheritance from the person who owed it or, as a parent, for damage caused by a child who is a minor. If something of yours is attached by mistake, you can ask for it to be released by proving that it belongs to you. The general rule The law says that debtors are liable for their debts with all their assets, present and future. The assets in question are the debtor's own, not their family's. That is why, for a debt owed by an adult child, a sibling or anyone else you live with, your bank account, your salary, your car or your home cannot be attached. If you share an account with the debtor, only the debtor's share can be attached. That share is presumed to be half if there are two account holders, unless the contrary is proved. What happens with the debts of a spouse or partner is another matter, because it depends on the couple's property regime. When you are liable There are cases in which the law or what you signed makes you liable for someone else's debt: If you guaranteed it or signed as a co-debtor, for example on your child's loan or on a relative's tenancy agreement. If you accepted the inheritance from the person who owed it, unless you did so with the benefit of inventory, which limits what is paid to what is inherited. If you are the parent of a minor child who has caused damage, because the law makes parents liable for the children in their care. Parents only escape liability if they prove that they did everything they should have done to prevent it, something the courts accept in very few cases. If you received assets from the debtor so that they would not be attached. The creditor can ask the court to set that transfer aside. Hiding assets or putting them in a relative's name to avoid paying can also be a criminal offence, known as fraudulent concealment of assets (“alzamiento de bienes”). If something of yours is attached When an attachment is carried out at a home, the court attaches whatever appears, from indications and outward signs, to belong to the debtor, without any need for further investigation. If something of yours is at risk in this way, you have these options: If, at the time of the attachment, there are grounds for thinking that an item belongs to someone else, the court gives you five days to prove it before attaching it. If the asset, such as a flat, is registered in your name in a public register, the registrar's certificate in principle allows the attachment to be avoided. If it has already been attached, you can bring a third-party ownership claim (“tercería de dominio”). This is a procedure in which someone who is not a party to the enforcement proceedings asks for the asset to be recognised as theirs and for the attachment to be lifted, producing a document to support the claim. It must be brought before the asset passes to the creditor or to whoever buys it at the auction. That is why it is advisable to keep the invoices and proof of payment for what belongs to you, especially if you live with someone who has debts.