Short answer. After taxes and assessments on the property are paid first, Article 2249 of the Civil Code divides what remains pro rata among the two or more preferred credits attached to that same specific real property or real right. No preferred creditor is paid in full ahead of the others.
What the law says
If there are two or more credits with respect to the same specific real property or real rights, they shall be satisfied pro rata, after the payment of the taxes and assessments upon the immovable property or real right.
Civil Code, Article 2249 — Two or More Credits on the Same Immovable. Read the full provision →
Taxes and assessments come first
Before any of the preferred creditors are paid, Article 2249 requires that taxes and assessments on the immovable property or real right be satisfied first. This is a fixed priority ahead of the pro rata rule that follows, meaning the claim for taxes on the property takes precedence over private creditors, even those holding a preference recognized elsewhere in the law over that same real property or real right.
What pro rata means for the rest
Once taxes and assessments are out of the way, whatever value remains is divided pro rata among the two or more preferred credits on that property. Pro rata means each creditor is paid in proportion to the size of their credit relative to the total of all the preferred credits competing for that value, rather than being paid in the order the credits arose, or one creditor being paid in full before another gets anything. If the remaining value cannot cover every preferred claim, each creditor absorbs a proportionate shortfall together.
Why this differs from a single preferred claim
This pro rata rule is distinct from a situation where only one preferred credit exists on a property, in which case that single credit simply excludes ordinary creditors up to the property's value. Article 2249 addresses the different scenario where multiple credits share the same kind of preference over the identical piece of real property, and none of them, standing alone, is entitled to be paid ahead of the others once taxes and assessments have already been deducted from the total.
Working out how much each creditor actually receives
In practice, applying this rule requires first establishing the total value of the specific real property or real right after taxes and assessments have been deducted, and then identifying every credit that genuinely qualifies for this same preference over that property. Each preferred creditor's share is then calculated as a fraction of that remaining value, proportionate to the size of their own credit against the combined total of all the qualifying preferred credits. Disputes at this stage usually turn on whether a particular claim truly belongs on this list at all, since only credits that qualify for the preference participate in the pro rata division.