Short answer. Yes. When a new partner is admitted and the business continues without liquidation, the old creditors of the dissolved partnership automatically become creditors of the continuing business. The law treats them as having a claim against the entity that carried the business forward.
What the law says
When any new partner is admitted into an existing partnership, or when any partner retires and assigns (or the representative of the deceased partner assigns) his rights in partnership property to two or more of the partners, or to one or more of the partners and one or more third persons, if the business is continued without liquidation of the partnership affairs
Civil Code, Article 1840 — Creditors When the Business Continues. Read the full provision →
The core rule: old creditors follow the continuing business
Article 1840 of the Civil Code establishes that creditors of the dissolved partnership are also creditors of the person or partnership continuing the business in a range of scenarios. The first scenario it names is precisely this one: when any new partner is admitted into an existing partnership and the business is continued without liquidation of the partnership affairs. This protects creditors from having their claims disappear simply because the partnership changed its composition and continued operating under a new arrangement.
Other situations covered by the same rule
The article covers more than just the admission of a new partner. Old creditors also become creditors of the continuing business when: a retiring or deceased partner's rights are assigned to remaining partners and the business goes on without winding up; a single remaining partner continues alone or with others; partners assign their rights to third parties who promise to pay the debts; wrongfully dissolved partnerships are continued by the innocent partners; or a partner is expelled and the others carry on. The common thread in all cases is that the business is not wound up and creditors are not paid out before the new arrangement begins.
Limits on the new partner's personal liability
The article draws an important boundary for incoming partners. The liability of a third person becoming a partner in the partnership continuing the business to the old creditors shall be satisfied out of the partnership property only, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary. A new partner does not automatically expose their personal assets to debts incurred before they joined — their exposure is limited to the partnership's own property, unless they explicitly agreed to take on broader personal liability. Old partners, of course, remain personally liable for pre-existing debts.
Priority of old creditors over retiring partners
The article also resolves a potential conflict between two groups competing for the continuing business's assets: the old creditors of the dissolved partnership, and the retiring or deceased partner's estate. When it comes to any claim a retired or deceased partner might have against the continuing business — for example, their interest in partnership property or consideration owed for it — the creditors of the dissolved partnership have a prior right over the separate creditors of the retiring or deceased partner. Old creditors stand ahead in line.