Short answer. Usually not. Article 792 says the invalidity of one of several dispositions in a will does not result in the invalidity of the other dispositions, unless it is to be presumed that the testator would not have made those other dispositions if the invalid one had not been made. The valid parts generally stand on their own.
What the law says
The invalidity of one of several dispositions contained in a will does not result in the invalidity of the other dispositions, unless it is to be presumed that the testator would not have made such other dispositions if the first invalid disposition had not been made.
Civil Code, Article 792 — Invalid Dispositions Are Severable. Read the full provision →
One bad gift does not sink the rest
Article 792 reassures you that a single flawed provision usually does not drag down the whole will. It states: The invalidity of one of several dispositions contained in a will does not result in the invalidity of the other dispositions, unless it is to be presumed that the testator would not have made such other dispositions if the first invalid disposition had not been made. The starting point is severability. If one gift in the will fails — because it is illegal, impossible, or otherwise ineffective — the other gifts are not automatically dragged down with it. The court saves what it validly can, and only the defective disposition drops out.
Why the law saves the valid parts
The rule serves the testator's overall wishes. A will typically expresses many separate intentions — a gift to a spouse, another to a child, a legacy to a friend. It would defeat the maker's purpose to cancel every carefully chosen gift just because one of them happens to be legally defective. Article 792 keeps the effective dispositions alive so that the testator's plan survives as fully as the law allows. The default leans toward upholding, not destroying, the will: the failure of one provision is treated as an isolated gap, not proof that the entire document should be thrown out.
The exception: when the gifts stand or fall together
The severability rule has a limit built into its own text. The other dispositions do fail if it is to be presumed that the testator would not have made such other dispositions if the first invalid disposition had not been made. In other words, where the valid gifts were so bound up with the invalid one that the testator would never have made them alone, they cannot be separated and they fall too. This looks to the testator's probable intent: were the provisions independent, or was the whole scheme conditioned on the part that failed? If the surviving gifts only make sense together with the void one, the law will not enforce a plan the testator never really wanted in isolation.
What this rule does and does not reach
Article 792 is about the invalidity of a particular disposition inside an otherwise proper will. It presupposes that the will itself is validly executed. It does not rescue a will that fails as a whole for a defect going to the entire instrument — for example, one not executed with the formalities the law requires, which is a different problem governed by other provisions. Within a valid will, though, the message is encouraging: the failure of one gift does not by itself doom the others, and the estate is distributed according to the dispositions that remain effective.