Short answer. Not if it is through no fault of yours. Where a modal institution cannot take effect in the exact manner the testator stated, it is carried out in a way most analogous to and in conformity with his wishes. And if an interested person prevents fulfilment, again without your fault, the requirement is deemed to have been complied with.
What the law says
When without the fault of the heir, an institution referred to in the preceding article cannot take effect in the exact manner stated by the testator, it shall be complied with in a manner most analogous to and in conformity with his wishes.
Civil Code, Article 883 — When the Mode Cannot Be Fulfilled Exactly. Read the full provision →
Approximate the wishes, do not forfeit the gift
Article 883 keeps a modal gift alive when the exact purpose becomes impossible: when without the fault of the heir, an institution referred to in the preceding article cannot take effect in the exact manner stated by the testator, it shall be complied with in a manner most analogous to and in conformity with his wishes. So you do not lose the inheritance because the precise thing the testator specified can no longer be done. The obligation shifts to the closest achievable equivalent, one that carries out the substance of what he wanted, rather than failing altogether because the literal instruction is out of reach.
The condition is that you are not at fault
This rescue depends on the impossibility arising without the heir's fault. If external circumstances, and not your own doing or neglect, made the exact compliance impossible, the law lets you satisfy the mode by the analogous route. The provision is not a licence to abandon a purpose you could have fulfilled; it answers the case where fulfilment in the stated form genuinely cannot happen through no doing of yours. Where that is so, the testator's underlying intention is honoured by the nearest faithful substitute, and your entitlement stands.
Obstruction by an interested person
The article addresses a second situation in its final sentence. If the person interested in the condition should prevent its fulfilment, without the fault of the heir, the condition is deemed to have been complied with. So where someone who stands to gain from your failure deliberately blocks you from carrying out the purpose, the law treats the requirement as met rather than letting the obstructor profit from his own interference. You are not made to bear the loss for an outcome another person engineered against you.
How to protect your position
If the stated purpose has become impossible, do not simply give up the gift. Document why exact compliance cannot be achieved and that the impossibility is not of your making, then work out the arrangement most analogous to the testator's wishes so the mode is satisfied in substance. If someone with an interest is obstructing you, record how and by whom. These are the facts that determine whether you keep the inheritance, and they are best assembled early, with a lawyer, so the compliance, or the deemed compliance, can be established when the estate is settled.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Johnny S. Rabadilla vs. Court of Appeals and Maria Marlena Coscuella y Belleza Villacarlos, G.R. No. 113725, June 29, 2000 — read the decision on LawPhil →