Short answer. Yes, if you are the innocent spouse and you act in time. Once the decree of legal separation is final, you may revoke donations made in favour of the offending spouse and cancel their designation as insurance beneficiary, even an irrevocable one. The action must be brought within five years.
What the law says
After the finality of the decree of legal separation, the innocent spouse may revoke the donations made by him or by her in favor of the offending spouse, as well as the designation of the latter as beneficiary in any insurance policy, even if such designation be stipulated as irrevocable.
Family Code, Article 64 — Revoking Donations and Insurance Designations. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The action to revoke the donation under this Article must be brought within five years from the time the decree of legal separation become final.
Family Code, Article 64 — Revoking Donations and Insurance Designations. Read the full provision →
A right to exercise, not an automatic consequence
The decree does not undo the gifts by itself. The article says the innocent spouse may revoke — it creates an option, and an option that is never exercised leaves the donation exactly where it was. Two limits are built into the same sentence. The right belongs to the innocent spouse, so a party who was found at fault has nothing to revoke under this provision. And it arises only after the finality of the decree; a revocation attempted while the case is still running is premature. People often assume that winning the case strips the other side of everything received during the marriage. It does not. Someone has to act.
Recording, and the third parties it cannot touch
For real property the revocation has to be recorded in the registries of property where the properties are located, and the timing of that recording is what protects everyone else. Alienations, liens and encumbrances registered in good faith before the recording of the complaint for revocation in those registries are respected. So if the offending spouse has already sold the land, or mortgaged it to a bank that acted in good faith and registered first, the revocation cannot claw the property back from the buyer or the lender. The practical lesson is unforgiving: delay between the decree and the recording is exactly the window in which the asset can disappear.
Insurance runs on a different trigger
The beneficiary designation is dealt with in the same article but does not follow the registry mechanics. The revocation of, or change in, the designation takes effect upon written notification to the insured. That is a lighter step than a registry recording, but it is still a step, and it is one that has to be documented. Note also how strong the entitlement is: the designation may be revoked even where the policy stipulates that it is irrevocable, which overrides what the contract itself provides. A policy left untouched after a decree will still pay out according to its face.
Five years, and what to do inside them
The article sets its own clock: the action to revoke must be brought within five years from the time the decree becomes final. That period runs whether or not anyone is paying attention to it, and it is not extended by negotiations, reconciliation attempts or the offending spouse's promises. The sensible order of work is to pull the decree and confirm its date of finality, list every donation made to the other spouse with the instrument that recorded it, check the current registry status of each property, and identify every policy naming the spouse as beneficiary. That list, with dates, is what a lawyer needs first.