Can a wife be ordered to settle a personal debt of her spouse?

Two spouses are married without a contract, thus under the regime of the legal community (community reduced to gains). The husband, a court administrator, misappropriates funds and creates a debt of nearly €450,000. For the creditor, it is a debt of the community. He asked the court to order the wife, in her personal capacity, to pay the debt. Does the wife have to pay?

Service-Public.fr replies:

In that case, the court agreed with the creditor and ordered the wife, in her personal capacity, to pay her husband's debt.

But the court of appeal rejected the wife's conviction. The sum corresponds to a personal debt of the husband. The wife did not make a personal commitment. The court concluded that the wife, not being a debtor of those sums, could not be sentenced in her personal capacity.

The Court of Cassation ruled in favor of the Court of Appeal.

The spouses are married without a contract: they are under the regime of the legal community. The property they have acquired since marriage is common. They may also own each of their own property (property acquired before marriage, for example).

Article 1413 of the Civil Code provides that “the payment of debts to which each spouse is liable, for whatever reason, during the community, may always be sued on common property (…)”.

The personal debt of a single spouse commits his own property, but also all the common property of the spouses. These can be seized, as soon as the debt is born during the marriage.

However, the wife is not personally bound by her husband's professional debt. His own property and income (wages, pensions, etc.) cannot therefore be seized.