Short answer. It depends on whether the will designated specific shares. The Family Code says property left by will to spouses jointly, with determinate shares assigned to each, becomes each spouse's own exclusive property. If no shares were designated, the spouses take share and share alike instead.
What the law says
Property donated or left by will to the spouses, jointly and with designation of determinate shares, shall pertain to the donee-spouses as his or her own exclusive property, and in the absence of designation, share and share alike, without prejudice to the right of accretion when proper.
Family Code, Article 113 — Property Donated or Left Jointly to the Spouses. Read the full provision →
The rule turns on whether shares were designated
Article 113 answers this question by looking at exactly one thing: whether the will assigned determinate shares to each spouse. If it did, the article says the property shall pertain to the donee-spouses as his or her own exclusive property — meaning each spouse's designated share belongs to that spouse individually, not to the couple as a unit. The relative's will, if it specified who gets what portion, is what settles the question.
What happens without a designation
If the will left the property to both spouses jointly but did not specify particular shares, Article 113 supplies a default: the spouses take share and share alike. That means an equal division between them, applied automatically because the will itself was silent on how to split it. This default only comes into play in the absence of designation — where the will does specify shares, that designation controls instead.
The right of accretion the article preserves
Article 113 closes with without prejudice to the right of accretion when proper. This preserves whatever right of accretion may apply on top of the sharing rule the article sets out. The article does not itself explain when accretion becomes "proper" or how it operates in a given case — it simply signals that the share-and-share-alike or exclusive-property outcome above is not the final word if a right of accretion is triggered. Accretion matters most where one of the two spouses cannot or does not take — by predeceasing the testator, by repudiating, or by being incapacitated — and the question becomes whether that vacant portion goes to the other spouse or falls back into the estate.
Why 'exclusive' is the important word
The consequence of the property being exclusive is that it stays outside the couple's common fund. Under Article 92, property acquired during the marriage by gratuitous title by either spouse is excluded from the absolute community, together with its fruits and income, unless the donor, testator or grantor expressly provides that they shall form part of the community property. Article 109 says the same for the conjugal partnership of gains: what each spouse acquires during the marriage by gratuitous title is that spouse's exclusive property. So an inheritance under a will does not merge into the community merely because the couple is married — and note the escape clause in Article 92, which lets the testator direct otherwise. What the will says therefore governs twice over: it fixes the shares, and it can fix the character of what is given.
What to check in the will
Whether your inheritance is jointly held or exclusive to each of you comes down to reading the will's actual language: does it name a specific share for each of you, or does it simply leave the property to "the spouses" without dividing it? That distinction, on the face of the document, is what Article 113 uses to determine the outcome.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 113 — Property Donated or Left Jointly to the Spouses
- Family Code, Article 92 — What Is Excluded from the Community
- Family Code, Article 109 — CPG: Exclusive Property of Each Spouse