Short answer. Usually not. Article 2073 lets a co-guarantor who paid demand each other's proportional share, but it does not apply unless the payment was made by virtue of a judicial demand or the principal debtor is insolvent. Paying voluntarily, without either condition, generally bars contribution from your co-guarantors.
What the law says
The provisions of this article shall not be applicable, unless the payment has been made by virtue of a judicial demand or unless the principal debtor is insolvent.
Civil Code, Article 2073 — Contribution Among Co-Guarantors. Read the full provision →
The right to contribution, and its condition
Article 2073 gives co-guarantors a way to share the load. Where there are two or more guarantors of the same debtor for the same debt, the one among them who has paid may demand of each of the others the share which is proportionally owing from him. But the same article attaches a gate that many payers overlook. It states that the provisions of this article shall not be applicable, unless the payment has been made by virtue of a judicial demand or unless the principal debtor is insolvent. So the right to make your co-guarantors contribute is not automatic — it depends on how and when you paid.
Why voluntary early payment can defeat contribution
The condition exists to discourage a guarantor from paying prematurely and then spreading a cost the others might never have had to bear. If the creditor had not yet gone to court and the principal debtor was still solvent, the debt might well have been collected from the debtor himself, sparing the guarantors entirely. By stepping in and paying without a judicial demand and while the debtor could still pay, you acted ahead of what was required. In that situation the article's benefit is withheld, and your co-guarantors can resist a demand for their shares. Timing and circumstances, not merely the fact of payment, control the remedy.
When you can still recover from them
You are not shut out in every case. Contribution is available if either condition is met: the payment was made because of a judicial demand — meaning the creditor had already sued to collect — or the principal debtor is insolvent, so recovering from him was not a real option. Meet one of these and the sharing rule applies in full, including its insolvency feature: If any of the guarantors should be insolvent, his share shall be borne by the others, including the payer, in the same proportion. So a paying guarantor who acted under suit, or where the debtor cannot pay, may properly call on the others.
Practical guidance
Before paying a guaranteed debt out of your own pocket, it is worth checking whether either trigger is present, because that determines if you can later recover from your co-guarantors or must shoulder it alone as against them. This rule does not touch your separate right to seek reimbursement from the principal debtor, who remains the one ultimately liable. But among guarantors, paying voluntarily and prematurely — with no suit filed and a solvent debtor — is exactly the scenario in which Article 2073 withholds the right to make the others contribute.