Short answer. Yes. Under Article 1814, a judgment creditor of a partner may apply to the court to charge that partner's interest with the unpaid judgment, and the court may appoint a receiver of his share of the profits. The creditor reaches your profit interest, not the partnership's property itself.
What the law says
on due application to a competent court by any judgment creditor of a partner, the court which entered the judgment, or any other court, may charge the interest of the debtor partner with payment of the unsatisfied amount of such judgment debt with interest thereon; and may then or later appoint a receiver of his share of the profits
Civil Code, Article 1814 — Charging Order Against a Partner's Interest. Read the full provision →
The charging order is the proper route
A personal creditor cannot simply grab the business. Instead, Article 1814 gives him a specific remedy called a charging order. On due application to a competent court by any judgment creditor of a partner, the court may charge the interest of the debtor partner with payment of the unsatisfied amount of such judgment debt with interest thereon; and may then or later appoint a receiver of his share of the profits. This channels the creditor toward the partner's financial interest — his share of profits and money due to him from the firm — rather than the partnership's operating assets. The court can also make further orders, accounts and inquiries that the debtor partner himself could have demanded.
What the creditor can and cannot touch
The charge fastens onto your interest in the partnership — your profits and other money owed to you — not onto specific partnership property, and not onto the firm's management. The receiver collects what would otherwise flow to you until the judgment is paid. Article 1814 also opens with a caution: it operates without prejudice to the preferred rights of partnership creditors under article 1827. Article 1827 says the creditors of the partnership shall be preferred to those of each partner as regards the partnership property. So the firm's own creditors stand ahead of your personal creditor when it comes to partnership assets.
The interest can be redeemed or bought out
A charging order is not necessarily the end of the story. Article 1814 says the charged interest may be redeemed at any time before foreclosure, or, if the court directs a sale, may be purchased without dissolving the partnership. The redemption or purchase can be done with the separate property of any one or more partners, or with partnership property where all the partners whose interests are not charged consent. The article also preserves any right the partner may have under the exemption laws as regards his interest. In short, your personal creditor can reach your profit stream through the court, but the other partners have tools to protect the firm's stability.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 1814 — Charging Order Against a Partner's Interest
- Civil Code, Article 1827 — Preference of Partnership Creditors