Short answer. Yes. Where the only property cannot be divided, or would be badly damaged by division, it may be adjudicated to one heir on condition that he pays the others their shares in cash. But any single heir can insist instead that it be sold at public auction with outsiders allowed to bid.
What the law says
Should a thing be indivisible, or would be much impaired by its being divided, it may be adjudicated to one of the heirs, provided he shall pay the others the excess in cash.
Civil Code, Article 1086 — Indivisible Property. Read the full provision →
Why the law offers a cash buy-out at all
Partition is supposed to give each heir a physical share. A house on a small lot defeats that: you cannot hand one child the kitchen and another the stairwell, and cutting a lot into slivers can destroy most of its value. So the Civil Code allows an alternative — the thing goes whole to one heir, who compensates the rest in money for the excess over his own share. Two conditions sit behind that. The property must genuinely be indivisible, or be one that would be much impaired by division, and the payment must be in cash, not a promise, a post-dated arrangement, or another asset the others did not agree to accept.
The veto every heir holds
This is the part families usually do not know. The same article gives any one of the heirs the right to demand that the property be sold at public auction with strangers permitted to bid, and the text says this must be done. It is not a matter of majority vote: a single dissenting heir can stop a buy-out. The reason is protective. A private buy-out depends entirely on the valuation used, and an heir who suspects the figure is too low can force the market to set the price instead. Allowing outsiders to bid is essential to that — an auction confined to the family is not the safeguard the law has in mind.
Getting the valuation right
Because the whole arrangement turns on a number, that number deserves care. A zonal value or an old tax declaration is not a market appraisal; those figures exist for tax purposes and are often far below what a property would fetch. Sensible practice is an independent appraisal, disclosed to every heir, with any mortgage, unpaid real property tax or estate tax obligation clearly identified, since those reduce what is actually distributable. Improvements built by one heir, or years of rent-free occupation by another, tend to be raised at this point too. Settling those questions before the deed is signed is far easier than unwinding an agreement afterwards.
What this article does not decide
It governs how an estate property is allotted; it does not tell you who the heirs are or what each share amounts to. Those come from the rules on legitimes and intestate succession, and from the will if there is one. Nor does it override a surviving spouse's separate interest in property that formed part of the marital community, which is not estate property at all and must be taken out first. And a buy-out does not transfer title by itself: the settlement has to be documented and registered, and the estate tax dealt with, before the registry will issue a new title. The right course depends on the documents in your particular estate.