Short answer. You can generally treat them separately. The Civil Code lets a compulsory heir who is also given a legacy or devise choose freely: waive the inheritance and accept the legacy, renounce the legacy and accept the inheritance, or accept or waive both — unless the will itself made the two gifts inseparable.
What the law says
Any compulsory heir who is at the same time a legatee or devisee may waive the inheritance and accept the legacy or devise, or renounce the latter and accept the former, or waive or accept both.
Civil Code, Article 955 — Two Legacies, One Onerous. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The legatee or devisee of two legacies or devises, one of which is onerous, cannot renounce the onerous one and accept the other.
Civil Code, Article 955 — Two Legacies, One Onerous. Read the full provision →
What the law says
if the testator intended that the two legacies or devises should be inseparable from each other, the legatee or devisee must either accept or renounce both
Civil Code, Article 955 — Two Legacies, One Onerous. Read the full provision →
The rule for compulsory heirs who are also legatees
Article 955 of the Civil Code addresses exactly this situation: any compulsory heir who is at the same time a legatee or devisee may waive the inheritance and accept the legacy or devise, or renounce the latter and accept the former, or waive or accept both. In other words, being entitled to a compulsory share of the estate and also being named for a specific legacy or devise in the same will does not force you to accept or reject them as a single unit — you can generally decide on each separately.
Where the general rule for multiple legacies comes from
That flexibility for compulsory heirs sits alongside a related rule in the same article governing someone who receives two separate legacies or devises. If one of those two gifts is onerous — meaning it comes with a burden or obligation attached — the recipient cannot renounce the onerous one while keeping the other; and if both gifts are onerous, or both are gratuitous, the recipient is generally free to accept or renounce them independently, or renounce either one. The compulsory-heir-and-legatee situation is treated separately from, and more favorably than, that two-legacy scenario.
The one exception: an inseparable gift
There is a limit even for ordinary multiple legacies, and it can matter here too: if the testator intended that two legacies or devises should be inseparable from each other, the recipient must accept or renounce both together, not pick one and reject the other. This depends on what the will itself shows the testator wanted — express language tying the gifts together, or circumstances making clear they were meant as one combined gift. If nothing in the will indicates that intent, the general freedom to treat the inheritance and the legacy separately should apply.
Why this distinction matters
The practical effect is that a compulsory heir does not have to gamble the entire inheritance to accept a specific gift, or give up a wanted legacy just to avoid an inheritance they consider more trouble than it is worth — debts of the estate, disputes among co-heirs, or property they simply do not want. Reading the exact wording of the will carefully still matters, though, since a testator who clearly meant the two gifts to travel together can bind the recipient to an all-or-nothing choice despite the general rule.