Short answer. Yes. Article 2027 of the Civil Code is explicit: no annuity shall be claimed without first proving the existence of the person upon whose life the annuity is constituted. If you cannot prove that person is alive, you cannot demand payment, even if you are otherwise entitled to the income.
What the law says
No annuity shall be claimed without first proving the existence of the person upon whose life the annuity is constituted.
Civil Code, Article 2027 — Proof the Annuitant Is Alive Is Required to Claim an Annuity. Read the full provision →
Why proof of life is a condition to every payment
A life annuity is structured around a measuring life — a specific person whose survival keeps the obligation running. The moment that person dies, the annuity ends. Article 2027 enforces this logical structure by requiring the claimant to prove the measuring life is still ongoing before demanding payment. The debtor cannot be expected to simply take the claimant's word for it. Every payment demand is therefore a fresh occasion to demonstrate that the foundational fact — the measuring life — continues to exist.
What proof looks like in practice
The Civil Code does not specify the exact form that proof must take — it says prove existence, not prove it in a particular way. In most practical situations, a recent certification or a personal appearance by the measuring life is sufficient. If the measuring life is elderly, ill, or living abroad, obtaining timely documentation becomes more important. If the person is in a hospital or a care facility, an updated medical certificate or an official certification of life from the relevant civil registry authority can serve as evidence. The key is that the proof must be reasonably current — a certificate from six months ago may not satisfy the debtor's legitimate concern that the situation has changed.
The recipient and the measuring life may be different people
You, the person collecting the payments, and the person on whose life the annuity rests do not have to be the same individual. The Civil Code expressly allows an annuity to be constituted on a third person's life and paid to someone else entirely. In that arrangement, you collect the income but the obligation continues only as long as the other person lives. Under Article 2027, proving that other person — the measuring life, not yourself — is still alive is what unlocks each payment. This distinction matters: your own survival is irrelevant to the Article 2027 requirement.
What happens when proof cannot be obtained
If the measuring life has genuinely disappeared or cannot be located, and you cannot produce evidence of existence, the debtor is entitled to withhold payment. This is not a technicality but a substantive rule: the debtor's obligation is conditioned on the survival of a specific person, and if that survival cannot be established, the condition cannot be said to have been met. If you are the claimant in this situation, consider the legal mechanisms for establishing a presumption of life or death through civil registry processes, and consult a lawyer about the appropriate steps for your specific circumstances.