Short answer. Yes, before it happens. Creditors and assignees of a co-owner may take part in the division and object to its being carried out without their concurrence. Once a partition has been executed, however, they can no longer impugn it except on narrow grounds.
What the law says
The creditors or assignees of the co-owners may take part in the division of the thing owned in common and object to its being effected without their concurrence.
Civil Code, Article 497 — Creditors in Partition. Read the full provision →
A right to be present, and to object
The article gives creditors and assignees two things: they may take part in the division of the thing owned in common, and they may object to its being effected without their concurrence. The reason is that a debtor's undivided share is what his creditor is looking to, and a partition can quietly convert a valuable share into a poor parcel — the awkward corner, the landlocked portion, the part with the encroachment on it. Letting the creditor into the room while the property is being divided is cheaper than unwinding the division afterwards.
But the door closes once it is done
The limit is just as firm: they cannot impugn any partition already executed. A creditor who knew nothing and said nothing has no general power to reopen a completed division merely because his debtor came out of it badly. Two exceptions are named. Fraud is one. The other is where the partition went ahead notwithstanding a formal opposition presented to prevent it — which is precisely why an objection, if there is one, should be made in a form that can later be proved rather than mentioned in passing.
The debtor keeps his own position
The closing words preserve something for the other side: all of this is without prejudice to the right of the debtor or assignor to maintain its validity. A co-owner whose partition is attacked by his creditor is not a bystander. He may defend the division and show that it was fair, that his share was properly valued, and that nothing was arranged to put assets out of reach. The article is not a presumption that partitions harm creditors; it is a mechanism for testing the ones that do.
What each side should be doing
If you are the co-owner, tell your creditors before the division rather than after, and keep the valuation, the survey and the record of how the portions were allotted — those documents are your defence if the partition is later questioned. If you are the creditor, act while the property is still undivided: put the objection in writing, addressed to all the co-owners, dated, and framed as an opposition rather than a request. The difference between an informal complaint and a formal opposition is the difference between the two halves of this article.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Julita Rombaua Panganiban, et al. vs. Julita S. Oamil, G.R. No. 149313, January 22, 2008 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Fe U. Quijano vs. Atty. Darill Almante, G.R. No. 164277, October 8, 2014 — read the decision on LawPhil →