Short answer. Yes. When you collate donated property, your co-heirs are bound to reimburse you for necessary expenses incurred for its preservation, even if those expenses did not increase the land's value. Expenses that improved the property's value and still exist at partition time are also reimbursable, but spending done purely for your own enjoyment is not.
What the law says
The co-heirs are bound to reimburse to the donee the necessary expenses which he has incurred for the preservation of the property donated to him, though they may not have augmented its value
Civil Code, Article 1076 — Reimbursing the Donee's Expenses. Read the full provision →
Necessary expenses are always reimbursable
Article 1076 begins with a clear obligation: "The co-heirs are bound to reimburse to the donee the necessary expenses which he has incurred for the preservation of the property donated to him, though they may not have augmented its value." The phrase "though they may not have augmented its value" is significant — even if you spent money on upkeep, repairs, or protective measures that merely kept the land from deteriorating without adding measurable value, that spending counts. The test is whether the expense was necessary for preservation, not whether it increased the appraisal figure.
Improvements that raised the property's value
A separate and higher category of claim also exists. If you collate the immovable itself in kind — returning the land to the estate rather than its cash value — your co-heirs must also reimburse you for "the improvements which have increased the value of the property, and which exist at the time the partition is effected." Two requirements must be met: the improvement must have genuinely raised the property's value, and it must still be physically present at partition time. An improvement that was later removed or destroyed does not qualify.
Works done for your own pleasure
Not every peso you spent on the property is recoverable. Article 1076 carves out an exception for "works made on the estate for the mere pleasure of the donee" — no reimbursement is owed for these. If you built a gazebo, landscaped a garden, or added a feature that served your personal enjoyment rather than the property's preservation or objective value, those costs stay with you. The statute does give you the right to remove such works before partition, as long as you can do so without injuring the estate. If removal would damage the land, you would have to leave them behind without compensation.
Practical steps before partition
If you are facing partition and have been maintaining the donated property for years, it is worth documenting what you spent and why before negotiations begin. Separate your records into three buckets: preservation expenses (fully reimbursable), value-adding improvements that still exist (reimbursable if you collate in kind), and personal amenities (not reimbursable, but potentially removable). Having receipts and a clear account of what falls in each category strengthens your position considerably when the estate is eventually divided.