Short answer. Yes. Article 925 lets a testator charge not only his compulsory heirs but also the legatees and devisees with paying a legacy. But a legatee so charged is liable only up to the value of what he himself received, and a compulsory heir only up to the free portion given him.
What the law says
A testator may charge with legacies and devises not only his compulsory heirs but also the legatees and devisees. The latter shall be liable for the charge only to the extent of the value of the legacy or the devise received by them.
Civil Code, Article 925 — Who May Be Charged. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The compulsory heirs shall not be liable for the charge beyond the amount of the free portion given them.
Civil Code, Article 925 — Who May Be Charged. Read the full provision →
What Article 925 allows
Article 925 provides that a testator may charge with legacies and devises not only his compulsory heirs but also the legatees and devisees. The latter shall be liable for the charge only to the extent of the value of the legacy or the devise received by them. A 'charge' here is a sub-gift: the testator gives someone a benefit and, in the same breath, directs him to pass part of its value to a third person. The article confirms the person carrying that burden need not be an heir. A legatee — himself a beneficiary — can be told to pay a legacy out of what he gets.
The ceiling on a legatee's liability
The important limit is that a charged legatee is liable only to the extent of the value of the legacy or the devise received by them. He can never be made to pay more than he was given. If the testator leaves him a car and charges him with a legacy worth more than the car, the excess is simply not his burden — the charge exhausts itself at the value of his own gift. This is only fair: the legatee is passing along part of a benefit, not reaching into his own pocket. A charge cannot turn a gift into a net loss for the person who receives it.
The parallel limit for compulsory heirs
The article sets a matching ceiling for compulsory heirs: they shall not be liable for the charge beyond the amount of the free portion given them. A compulsory heir's legitime is untouchable, so any charge on him bites only on what he received over and above that reserved share — the free-portion part of his inheritance. The testator cannot use a charge to eat into the legitime the law guarantees. So whether the person charged is a legatee or a forced heir, the same principle holds: the burden is capped at the disposable benefit each was actually given, never at the protected minimum.
Reading a charged gift in practice
If a will gives you something but directs you to deliver a legacy to another, first value what you received, because that figure is the outer limit of what you can be made to pay. Then check whether any part of your gift is a legitime you are entitled to regardless — a charge cannot reach that. What remains, the disposable part, is the fund the charge is paid from. If the legacy you are told to pay exceeds that fund, you owe only up to it. Where the values are close or contested, they are worth fixing carefully, since they decide how much of the gift you keep.