Short answer. Yes, but only as a last resort and not for free. Damages your spouse owes from an accident are paid from their own exclusive property first. Only if that is absent or insufficient does the community pay, and the amount is charged back against their share at liquidation.
What the law says
liabilities incurred by either spouse by reason of a crime or a quasi-delict, in case of absence or insufficiency of the exclusive property of the debtor-spouse, the payment of which shall be considered as advances to be deducted from the share of the debtor-spouse upon liquidation of the community
Family Code, Article 94 — Charges on the Community Property. Read the full provision →
The debtor-spouse pays first, out of their own property
Liability for a road accident is a quasi-delict — a wrong committed without any contract between the parties. The Family Code does not treat it as an ordinary family expense. It is listed among the charges on the absolute community, but with a condition attached that none of the other charges carry: the community answers only in case of absence or insufficiency of the exclusive property of the debtor-spouse. So the injured party looks first to whatever your spouse owns separately. Only when that is gone, or was never there at all, does community money come into play.
What the community pays is treated as an advance
The second half of the clause is the part most people miss. Whatever the community pays out on that liability is considered as advances to be deducted from the share of the debtor-spouse upon liquidation. It is not absorbed by the marriage. When the regime eventually ends and the property is divided, the running total of what the community paid on your spouse's account is subtracted from their half. In economic terms the community lent the money, and your spouse repays it out of their own share.
Your separate property stays out of reach
The closing paragraph of the article makes the spouses solidarily liable with their separate properties when community assets fall short — but it carves out the very paragraph that covers crimes and quasi-delicts. That exception matters to you directly. For an ordinary community debt a creditor could pursue your own separate property for the unpaid balance. For your spouse's accident liability, they cannot. The community may be tapped, and your spouse's separate property may be tapped, but yours is not on the table.
The same treatment covers more than accidents
The clause groups three things together and treats them identically: liabilities from a crime or a quasi-delict, antenuptial debts that did not redound to the family's benefit, and the support of an illegitimate child of either spouse. Each is paid by the community only as a fallback, each is booked as an advance, and each sits outside the solidary-liability rule. If you are working out what your marriage is actually exposed to, it is worth reading the whole paragraph rather than the single line that fits your situation.
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.
- Philippine National Bank vs. Venancio C. Reyes, Jr, G.R. No. 212483, October 5, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 94 — Charges on the Community Property
- Family Code, Article 102 — Liquidating the Absolute Community