Short answer. Not unless the guaranty was express. Article 2055 provides that a guaranty is not presumed; it must be express and cannot extend to more than what is stipulated. Signing a document for some other purpose, or being described as a guarantor by the lender, does not create the obligation.

What the law says

A guaranty is not presumed; it must be express and cannot extend to more than what is stipulated therein.

Civil Code, Article 2055 — Guaranty Is Not Presumed. Read the full provision →

The law refuses to infer the promise

Article 2055 opens with the whole answer: A guaranty is not presumed; it must be express and cannot extend to more than what is stipulated therein. That clause places the burden squarely on the creditor. It is not enough that a lender believed you were standing behind the loan, that you introduced the borrower, that you sat in the meeting where the money was discussed, or that you are the borrower's spouse, parent or business partner. Anyone asserting that you are a guarantor must point to words in which you undertook to answer for another person's debt. Where the document contains no such undertaking, there is nothing to construe in the lender's favour, because the law will not supply the promise by inference.

So the question is what you actually signed

The enquiry is documentary before it is anything else. Read the instrument again and find the capacity in which your name appears. A witness attests to the signing and owes nothing on the debt. A person signing to acknowledge notice of an assignment owes nothing either. Someone who signs a suretyship clause, a continuing security agreement, or a co-maker line has undertaken something real. Article 2047 draws the distinction that matters most: a guarantor binds himself to the creditor to fulfil the obligation of the principal debtor in case the latter should fail to do so, while a person who binds himself solidarily with the debtor is governed instead by the rules on solidary obligations, which are considerably harsher.

Even a genuine guarantor is not a co-debtor

People sign expecting to be pursued only if the borrower disappears, and that expectation is largely correct. Article 2058 provides that the guarantor cannot be compelled to pay the creditor unless the latter has exhausted all the property of the debtor and has resorted to all the legal remedies against the debtor. This benefit of excussion is not absolute. Article 2059 lists the situations in which it does not apply, among them where the guarantor expressly renounced it or bound himself solidarily with the debtor. Renunciation is usually pre-printed in the lender's own form, which is why the wording of the clause decides far more than the heading above it.

Limits on the amount, and what settles it

A guaranty also cannot be stretched beyond its terms. Article 2054 provides that a guarantor may bind himself for less, but not for more than the principal debtor, both as to amount and as to the onerous nature of the conditions, and that an obligation assumed for more is reduced to the debtor's limits. A demand covering a later loan the clause never reached, or charges beyond the secured obligation, is answerable on that ground alone. What settles most of these disputes is the original signed instrument rather than the demand letter, so ask the creditor for a legible copy of every page carrying your signature, including the reverse side and any annex.

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.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.