Short answer. No. Article 904 provides that a testator cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime except in cases the law expressly specifies. He may give the free portion to anyone he likes, but a gift that eats into his children's legitime is cut back to the extent that it does.
What the law says
The testator cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime, except in cases expressly specified by law. Neither can he impose upon the same any burden, encumbrance, condition, or substitution of any kind whatsoever.
Civil Code, Article 904 — The Legitime Cannot Be Taken Away. Read the full provision →
The reserved portion is not his to give
Article 904 puts it in two sentences: The testator cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime, except in cases expressly specified by law. Neither can he impose upon the same any burden, encumbrance, condition, or substitution of any kind whatsoever. The first sentence answers the question directly — leaving the children nothing is not something a Filipino testator is permitted to do. The second closes the softer version of the same plan: he cannot leave them their share subject to the charity's or anyone else's rights over it, or on condition that they do something to get it.
But generosity up to a line is entirely lawful
It would be wrong to tell a reader that nothing can be given away. Article 842 provides that one who has compulsory heirs may dispose of his estate provided he does not contravene the Code's provisions on their legitime. A charity, a church, a friend, a partner outside the marriage — all may receive, out of the free portion. How large that portion is depends entirely on which compulsory heirs survive him and in what combination, so it is a residue to be computed rather than a fixed fraction. What the law forbids is not the beneficiary; it is the encroachment.
Giving it away in life does not solve it either
The usual attempt is to transfer the house before death so that no will is needed. This does not work as cleanly as people expect. The legitime is computed against a mass that takes lifetime gratuitous transfers into account, and Article 1061 requires every compulsory heir who succeeds with other compulsory heirs to bring into the estate whatever he received from the decedent by donation or other gratuitous title, precisely so the legitimes can be worked out. Gifts that impair the legitime are reduced. A deed of sale for a price that was never paid is a donation dressed up, and it is treated as what it is.
The family home has its own lock on the door
Where the property is the family home, a second restriction operates independently of succession law. The Family Code does not allow the family home to be alienated or encumbered by the person who constituted it acting alone; the spouse's written consent and that of a majority of the beneficiaries of legal age are required. So a transfer signed by the father by himself may be defective before any question of legitime arises. If this is happening in your family, the first documents to obtain are the title, the tax declaration, and the deed by which the transfer was made.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 904 — The Legitime Cannot Be Taken Away
- Civil Code, Article 842 — The Limit of Testamentary Freedom
- Civil Code, Article 886 — Legitime Defined
- Civil Code, Article 1061 — Collation Defined