Short answer. No. Article 872 of the Civil Code prohibits a testator from imposing any condition on a compulsory heir's legitime. If such a condition appears in the will, it is considered as not imposed — meaning you receive your legitime unconditionally, without having to move to the province or fulfill any other requirement.
What the law says
The testator cannot impose any charge, condition, or substitution whatsoever upon the legitimes prescribed in this Code. Should he do so, the same shall be considered as not imposed.
Civil Code, Article 872 — But Never on the Legitime. Read the full provision →
The legitime is protected from conditions
Article 872 is absolute in its terms: the testator cannot impose any charge, condition, or substitution whatsoever upon the legitimes prescribed in this Code. If he does so anyway, the condition is simply treated as not having been written. This protection exists because the legitime is not a gift — it is the portion of the estate that the law itself reserves for compulsory heirs regardless of the testator's wishes. A testator has broad freedom over the freely disposable portion, but that freedom does not reach the legitime.
What 'considered as not imposed' means in practice
The Civil Code does not void the will or penalise the testator for trying to attach conditions to the legitime. It simply strips the condition out. You receive what you are legally entitled to — your legitime — without having to comply with any attached requirement. The rest of the will remains intact. If your father imposed other conditions on the freely disposable portion of the estate, those may still be valid; the protection of Article 872 operates only on the reserved portion that compulsory heirs are entitled to by law.
Why the law takes this position
The purpose of the legitime system is to ensure that close family members — children, surviving spouses, and in some cases parents — cannot be entirely disinherited or effectively disinherited through conditions they cannot realistically meet. A condition like 'live in the province' could function as a practical disinheritance: an heir living and working elsewhere cannot comply without disrupting their life, and the condition gives the testator posthumous control over the heir's choices. Article 872 closes that avenue entirely, making the protection unconditional.
What you can and cannot receive without conditions
Your right to your legitime is not contingent on anything your father wrote in the will. At partition, you are entitled to your reserved share — computed based on the net estate and the number of compulsory heirs — without meeting any condition. However, if the will also leaves you something from the freely disposable portion with a condition attached (like the provincial residence requirement), that part of the bequest is a different matter: conditions on the freely disposable portion can be valid. A lawyer can help you identify which portion of the will affects your legitime and which affects any additional gift.