Short answer. Article 1072 of the Civil Code provides a clear rule: when a donation was made by both parents, one-half is brought to collation in the father's estate and the other half to the mother's estate. A donation made by one parent alone is collated entirely against that parent's estate.
What the law says
In the collation of a donation made by both parents, one-half shall be brought to the inheritance of the father, and the other half, to that of the mother. That given by one alone shall be brought to collation in his or her inheritance.
Civil Code, Article 1072 — Donations by Both Parents. Read the full provision →
The equal-split rule for joint parental donations
Article 1072 of the Civil Code applies specifically to donations signed or made by both parents together. The rule is simple: "In the collation of a donation made by both parents, one-half shall be brought to the inheritance of the father, and the other half, to that of the mother." When settling either parent's estate, the child who received the joint donation must collate half its value against that parent's estate. There is no need to investigate which parent contributed more or whose money funded the gift — the law applies a flat fifty-fifty split regardless.
Donations from one parent only
The second sentence of Article 1072 addresses the contrasting case: "That given by one alone shall be brought to collation in his or her inheritance." If only your father signed the deed, the entire donation is collated in his estate when he dies. If only your mother signed, it is collated in her estate alone. This rule prevents any ambiguity about which estate bears the collation burden when the authorship of the donation is clear — the full amount follows the donor.
What collation means in practice
Collation is the process of adding back to the notional estate the value of lifetime gifts a parent made to compulsory heirs, so that the legitimes of all heirs can be properly computed. It does not mean physically returning the property — it means its value is counted when computing how much each heir should receive. Under Article 1072, if you received a joint donation from both parents, each parent's estate at death will treat half of the gift's value as though it had been retained in that estate, and it will be charged against your share of their respective inheritances.
Why the source of the donation matters at succession
The distinction between a joint donation and a single-parent donation becomes important when there is more than one child and the donated value is substantial. Siblings who did not receive the joint gift will want it fully collated in each parent's estate so that their own shares are properly protected. The flat fifty-fifty rule of Article 1072 provides a clear, predictable starting point that avoids disputes about which parent's resources actually funded the donation. If you are dealing with an estate where joint parental donations were made, knowing this rule is essential to working out whether the heirs' legitimes are intact.