My father keeps telling everyone he is cutting me out of his estate, but he hasn't put it in writing. Does that count?

One sentence, two requirements

Article 916 is as short as it is strict: Disinheritance can be effected only through a will wherein the legal cause therefor shall be specified. The word only forecloses every other method. A statement at a family gathering, a message sent to relatives, a signed letter that is not a will, an instruction left with a sibling — none of these disinherits anyone. And even a proper will fails if it disinherits without naming the legal cause, because the article requires the cause to be specified in the instrument itself, not merely to exist somewhere in the family's history.

Why words cannot reach the legitime

Your protection does not come from your father's goodwill, so his withdrawal of it changes nothing. Article 886 defines the legitime as the part of the estate the testator cannot dispose of because the law has reserved it for certain heirs, and Article 904 confirms that he cannot deprive a compulsory heir of it except in cases expressly specified by law, nor burden it with any condition. Disinheritance under Article 915 is that narrow exception. Outside it, the reservation holds regardless of how loudly or how often his intention is announced.

Even a written disinheritance often fails

If he does eventually write one, it still has to survive scrutiny. Article 918 provides that a disinheritance without a specification of the cause, or for a cause the truth of which is contradicted and not proved, or which is not one of those set forth in the Code, annuls the institution of heirs insofar as it prejudices the person disinherited, while devises, legacies and other dispositions stand only to the extent they do not impair the legitime. Article 917 places the burden of proving the cause on the other heirs if you deny it — you are not required to disprove it.

The real risk is not his words

What can genuinely shrink your share is what he does with the property while alive, not what he says he will do at death. Sales, transfers and donations during his lifetime change the estate that eventually exists. Article 1061 is the counterweight: every compulsory heir who succeeds with other compulsory heirs must bring into the mass of the estate whatever he received from the decedent by donation or other gratuitous title, so that it can be computed in determining each heir's legitime. Keep records of transfers you learn about — titles, deeds, dates — because that computation is where these disputes are actually decided.

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 916 — Disinheritance Must Be in a Will
• Civil Code, Article 886 — Legitime Defined
• Civil Code, Article 904 — The Legitime Cannot Be Taken Away
• Civil Code, Article 918 — Defective Disinheritance
• Civil Code, Article 1061 — Collation Defined