Section 3: Dissolution of the community

Once the community has been dissolved, each of the spouses takes back any property that had not entered the community, if it exists in kind, or property that has been subrogated to it. The joint estate, both active and passive, is then liquidated.

An account shall be drawn up, in the name of each spouse, of the rewards owed to him by the community and the rewards owed by him to the community, in accordance with the rules prescribed in the preceding sections.

The reward is, in general, equal to the lower of the two sums represented by the expenditure made and the profit remaining. It may not, however, be less than the expenditure made where this was necessary. It may not be less than the profit remaining, where the value borrowed has been used to acquire, conserve or improve an asset which is, on the day of the liquidation of the community,…

If, after balancing, the account shows a balance in favour of the community, the spouse reports the amount to the common estate. If it shows a balance in favour of the spouse, the spouse has the choice either to demand payment or to deduct from the common estate up to the amount due.

Withdrawals are made first from cash, then from movables, and secondarily from community property. The spouse making the deduction has the right to choose which movables and immovables he will deduct. He may not, however, by his choice prejudice the rights that his spouse may have to apply for the maintenance of indivision or the preferential allocation of certain property. If the spouses wish to draw on the same property,…

In the event of insufficiency of the community, the levies of each spouse are proportional to the amount of the rewards due to him or her. However, if the insufficiency of the community is attributable to the fault of one of the spouses, the other spouse may exercise his or her levies before him or her on all the community property; he or she may exercise them subsidiarily on the…

Rewards due from or to the community shall bear interest ipso jure from the day of dissolution. However, where the reward is equal to the remaining profit, interest shall accrue from the day of liquidation.

Withdrawals from community property constitute a partition transaction. They do not confer on the spouse exercising them any right to be preferred to community creditors, except for the preference resulting, where applicable, from the legal mortgage.

After all deductions have been made from the estate, the surplus is divided equally between the spouses. If a community property is an annex to another property owned by one of the spouses, or if it is contiguous to that property, the owner spouse has the option of having it allocated to him or her by deduction from his or her share or in return for a balance, based on…

The partition of the community, in all that concerns its forms, the maintenance of indivision and preferential allocation, the licitation of property, the effects of the partition, the guarantee and the balances, is subject to all the rules that are established under the title “Of successions” for partitions between co-heirs. However, for communities dissolved by divorce, legal separation or separation as to property, preferential allotment is never by right, and…