Short answer. No. Article 936 says a legacy of a credit lapses if the testator, after making it, brings an action against the debtor for payment — even if the debt was not actually paid before his death. Suing the debtor is treated as revoking the gift, so the legacy is gone.
What the law says
The legacy referred to in the preceding article shall lapse if the testator, after having made it, should bring an action against the debtor for the payment of his debt, even if such payment should not have been effected at the time of his death.
Civil Code, Article 936 — When Such a Legacy Lapses. Read the full provision →
What Article 936 provides
Article 936 provides that the legacy referred to in the preceding article shall lapse if the testator, after having made it, should bring an action against the debtor for the payment of his debt, even if such payment should not have been effected at the time of his death. The legacy in question is a legacy of credit — the testator leaves the legatee a debt that a third person owes the testator, in effect handing over the right to collect it. Article 936 says that right disappears if the testator himself sues to collect the debt after making the gift.
Why suing the debtor undoes the gift
The reasoning is about intention. By leaving you the credit, the testator meant you, not he, to have the benefit of the debt. When he then goes to court to collect it himself, he acts in a way flatly inconsistent with that intention — he is treating the debt as his own to enforce and turn into cash. The law reads that conduct as an implied revocation of the legacy. It does not wait to see whether the suit succeeds; the act of suing is enough, even if such payment should not have been effected at the time of his death. The change of mind, shown by the lawsuit, is what matters.
It lapses even if the debt was never collected
This is the part that surprises people. You might think that if the debtor never actually paid — the case was still pending, or the testator died before judgment — the credit was still there to pass to you. The article closes that gap. The legacy lapses on the filing of the action, regardless of whether a centavo was recovered. So your father's suing the debtor but dying before payment does not keep the legacy alive; the suit itself extinguished it. What survives is the credit as an asset of the estate, to be collected for the estate, not delivered to you as a legatee.
What this means for you
If your father left you a debt owed to him and then sued the debtor before he died, the legacy has lapsed and you cannot claim the credit as legatee under that clause. The right to collect the debt falls back into the general estate and is dealt with like any other asset in the settlement — which may still benefit you as an heir, but through the estate rather than as this gift. Check the will's exact words and the date the action was filed against the date of the will, since the sequence — gift first, suit after — is what triggers the lapse.