Short answer. A suitable person appointed by the court. Where the other spouse is not qualified by reason of incompetence, conflict of interest, or any other just cause, the article directs the court to appoint an administrator rather than leave the property unmanaged or hand it over anyway.
What the law says
If the other spouse is not qualified by reason of incompetence, conflict of interest, or any other just cause, the court shall appoint a suitable person to be the administrator.
Family Code, Article 142 — Court Transfer of Administration of Exclusive Property. Read the full provision →
The spouse is the first choice, not the only one
The article's main rule lets the court transfer administration of a spouse's exclusive property to the other spouse in four situations — guardianship, judicial declaration of absence, a sentence carrying civil interdiction, and flight or hiding as an accused. The closing sentence supplies the fallback. The court is not put to a choice between an unfit spouse and nobody at all. Where the spouse cannot properly serve, the property still needs looking after, and the answer is an outsider appointed for the purpose.
Three ways a spouse can be disqualified
Incompetence is about capacity to do the job — illness, incapacity, or an inability to manage the kind of property involved. Conflict of interest is the one that arises most often and surprises people most: a spouse who is a creditor of the absent spouse, a party against him in litigation, or a claimant to the very property is being asked to look after assets she has a reason to deal with in her own favour. The third phrase, any other just cause, is deliberately open, and it lets a court act on a reason that fits neither label but plainly disqualifies.
What a court-appointed administrator is for
The person appointed manages the property; they do not own it and do not acquire a power to dispose of it or encumber it by virtue of the appointment. Their authority comes from the order, which is where its scope is set, so the order is the document tenants, banks and buyers will ask to see. The appointment is also a continuing relationship with the court rather than a handover — an administrator answers for what they do with property that belongs to someone else, and the order can be revisited if they do it badly.
Raise fitness while the choice is open
If you have reason to think the spouse seeking administration should not have it, the moment to say so is when the transfer is being asked for, with specifics rather than an impression — the litigation between them, the debt, the record of mismanagement, the medical facts. And if you may be proposed as the alternative administrator, be honest with your lawyer early about anything that could be characterised as a conflict. An appointment obtained without disclosing one is fragile, and its collapse tends to come at the worst point for the property.