Short answer. Possibly yes. Article 912 lets a devisee who is also entitled to a legitime keep an entire indivisible piece of real property, even though it must be reduced, as long as its value does not exceed the free portion plus that devisee's own legitime combined. If the value exceeds that combined ceiling, the ordinary reduction and cash-reimbursement rules apply instead.
What the law says
The devisee who is entitled to a legitime may retain the entire property, provided its value does not exceed that of the disposable portion and of the share pertaining to him as legitime.
Civil Code, Article 912 — Reduction Of Indivisible Realty. Read the full provision →
The general rule for indivisible devises
When a devise of real property must be reduced to protect compulsory heirs' legitimes, and the property cannot conveniently be split, Article 912 first asks how much of its value the reduction eats up. If the reduction takes less than half the property's value, the devisee keeps it and reimburses the compulsory heirs in cash for their share; if it takes half or more, the compulsory heirs get the property instead and reimburse the devisee for what belongs to him.
A different rule when the devisee is also an heir
That threshold does not apply when the devisee is himself a compulsory heir entitled to a legitime. In that situation, Article 912 lets him retain the entire property outright, sidestepping the usual one-half test, provided the property's total value stays within the combined ceiling of the freely disposable portion and his own legitime share. The rule recognizes that a compulsory heir is not really taking property away from the other heirs' legitimes — he is simply receiving his own entitlement in a particular form, real property rather than cash or other assets.
Why the combined ceiling matters
The cap exists so this special treatment cannot be used to quietly favor one child over the others. A devisee-heir can only keep the whole property if its value fits inside what the testator was free to give away plus what that heir was owed anyway; anything above that combined figure still has to be shared or reimbursed, because at that point the devise would start eating into the other compulsory heirs' own legitimes rather than merely absorbing the testator's own free portion.
If the value runs over
Where the property's value exceeds the free portion plus the devisee-heir's legitime, the special retention rule stops applying and the estate falls back to the ordinary rules: the property is either kept by the devisee with cash reimbursement to the other heirs, or turned over to the compulsory heirs with reimbursement running the other way, depending on how much of its value the required reduction consumes.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Ricky Q. Quilala vs. Gliceria Alcantara, et al, G.R. No. 132681, December 3, 2001 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 912 — Reduction Of Indivisible Realty
- Civil Code, Article 911 — Order Of Reduction
- Civil Code, Article 913 — Auction If Right Unused