Short answer. Yes. When an estate cannot cover all its legacies, Article 950 of the Civil Code sets a fixed payment order, and remuneratory legacies come first — before legacies the testator expressly declared preferential, before support legacies, and before all others. The testator's own preferential designation is ranked second, not first.
What the law says
If the estate should not be sufficient to cover all the legacies or devises, their payment shall be made in the following order: (1) Remuneratory legacies or devises; (2) Legacies or devises declared by the testator to be preferential; (3) Legacies for support; (4) Legacies for education; (5) Legacies or devises of a specific, determinate thing which forms a part of the estate; (6) All others pro rata.
Civil Code, Article 950 — Order of Payment When the Estate Falls Short. Read the full provision →
The six-step order when the estate cannot pay everything
Article 950 of the Civil Code imposes a mandatory sequence when an estate's assets are not enough to satisfy all its legacies and devises. The order is: first, remuneratory legacies or devises; second, those declared by the testator to be preferential; third, legacies for support; fourth, legacies for education; fifth, a specific, determinate thing forming part of the estate; and last, all others paid proportionally. This order is fixed by law. Neither the heirs nor the executor can rearrange it based on their own preferences.
What a remuneratory legacy is — and why it ranks first
A remuneratory legacy is a gift in a will that the testator made as compensation or reward for a past service the legatee rendered — something the legatee did for the testator that was not legally owed as ordinary employment. Because the testator is, in effect, repaying a debt of gratitude or an uncompensated obligation, the law treats it as more urgent than even the legacies the testator personally labeled preferential. The law's reasoning is that fairness to someone who already gave something takes priority over the testator's subjective rankings.
A testator's preferential designation ranks second, not first
People sometimes assume that if the testator called a legacy "preferential" in the will, it will be paid before anything else when the estate runs short. Article 950 makes clear this is not so. Testator-declared preferential legacies come second in the statutory order, after remuneratory ones. The testator can express a preference, but that preference does not override the law's own hierarchy. Administrators and executors handling a deficit estate are bound to follow Article 950's order, regardless of how the will phrases priorities.
What happens when the estate still cannot cover later categories
The payment proceeds down the list until the estate is exhausted. If the estate can fully pay remuneratory legacies but runs out before reaching preferential ones, the preferential legatees receive nothing — even though the testator said they were preferred. If the estate can partially satisfy a category, the legatees in that group share pro rata among themselves before the next category is considered. Legatees in category six — the general residue — are paid proportionally only if anything remains after all higher categories are fully settled.