Short answer. Yes. Article 1023 extends accretion to devisees, legatees, and usufructuaries under the same conditions that apply to heirs. If one of several co-legatees or co-usufructuaries cannot or will not take their share, it generally passes to the others named together with them, rather than being treated as vacant.
What the law says
Accretion shall also take place among devisees, legatees and usufructuaries under the same conditions established for heirs.
Civil Code, Article 1023 — Accretion for Legatees and Usufructuaries. Read the full provision →
The same rule, extended beyond heirs
Article 1023 makes clear that accretion is not reserved for people called to inherit as heirs in the strict sense. It states plainly that accretion shall also take place among devisees, legatees and usufructuaries under the same conditions established for heirs. So if a will leaves a specific piece of property, a sum of money, or a usufruct to two or more people jointly, and one of them predeceases the testator, repudiates the gift, or is otherwise incapable of receiving it, that vacant share does not simply vanish or default to the general estate. It follows the same accretion rules that govern heirs.
What has to be true for accretion to apply here
Because the article ties devisees, legatees, and usufructuaries to the same conditions established for heirs, the underlying requirements do not disappear just because the beneficiaries are named differently. Accretion generally requires that two or more persons were called to the same inheritance, devise, legacy, or usufruct without a specific, separate share being fixed for each, and that one of them fails to receive their portion. If those conditions are not met, for instance because the will already gave each co-legatee a distinct, separate share, accretion has nothing to attach to.
Why the law treats them alike
A testator who names several people together to receive one gift, one piece of property, or one usufruct, usually intends the group, not any single member, to benefit from that particular bequest. Limiting accretion to heirs while leaving co-legatees and co-usufructuaries without the same protection would frustrate that intent whenever one of them could not take their share, forcing the vacant portion into the general estate against what the testator likely meant. Extending the same rule to every category of beneficiary keeps the outcome consistent with how testators actually group their gifts.
What this means in practice
If you are named together with others as co-legatees, co-devisees, or co-usufructuaries under a will, and one of your co-beneficiaries drops out, do not assume that share automatically returns to the estate for redistribution under intestacy or to other heirs entirely. Depending on how the will is worded and whether the accretion conditions are satisfied, that share may instead grow the portions of the remaining co-beneficiaries named alongside the one who could not take it.