Short answer. Yes. Article 501 of the Civil Code makes every co-owner liable, after partition, for defects of title and quality in the portions assigned to the others. A defect in the title to your share, or in its quality, discovered after the division can be raised against your former co-owners under this warranty.
What the law says
Every co-owner shall, after partition, be liable for defects of title and quality of the portion assigned to each of the other co-owners.
Civil Code, Article 501 — Co-owner's Warranty After Partition. Read the full provision →
A warranty that survives the division
Article 501 provides that every co-owner shall, after partition, be liable for defects of title and quality of the portion assigned to each of the other co-owners. Partition ends the co-ownership and gives each former co-owner an exclusive share, but it does not end their mutual responsibility for problems that existed in the property before it was divided. The warranty runs from each co-owner to each of the others, not just from whoever physically handed you your portion. Article 501 governs claims among the former co-owners themselves. A mortgage, servitude, or other real right that a third person already held before the division is a separate matter: Article 499 keeps those rights in force against whoever ends up with the affected portion, regardless of anything the co-owners agree between themselves under this warranty.
Two kinds of defect covered
The article names two distinct problems: defects of title, meaning something wrong with the legal ownership assigned to you — a competing claim, an undisclosed lien, or a flaw in how the share was conveyed — and defects of quality, meaning something physically wrong with the portion itself. Both are treated the same way: the co-owners who received the other shares remain answerable for a defect discovered in yours after the partition is complete.
Timing is the boundary of the warranty. Article 501 answers for defects in the portion as it was assigned, not for what happens to it afterwards. Deterioration from ordinary use, damage caused by the new owner, or a claim that arose only after the division are not the co-owners' responsibility. Nor does the article reopen the partition itself: the remedy runs against the former co-owners over the defect, rather than undoing the division and starting again.
Who answers, and in what proportion
Because the obligation is described as running among each of the other co-owners, the warranty is generally understood to be shared among the former co-owners in proportion to their former interests, rather than falling entirely on one individual. The practical effect is that discovering a defect after partition does not leave you without recourse simply because the property has already changed hands and been divided.
What to do once you find the defect
Document the defect as soon as you find it — its nature, when it was discovered, and anything suggesting it predates the partition rather than arising afterward, since Article 501 addresses defects that existed at the time of division. Gather the partition agreement or court order and any records of the property's condition beforehand, and bring them to a lawyer to assess a claim against your former co-owners.
Two documents usually decide the outcome. The first is the deed or order of partition, because the co-owners may have addressed the point themselves, and a partition that expressly allocates the risk of a known encumbrance is dealing with the very thing the warranty would otherwise cover. The second is whatever describes the property before the division: an older title, tax declarations, a survey, photographs. Those are what show the defect was already there when the shares were assigned.