Short answer. No. If the thing was already yours when the will was made, Article 933 says the legacy has no effect — even if you later sold the thing. If you got it for free after the will, you still claim nothing; only if you bought it for value can you demand reimbursement from the heir or estate.
What the law says
If the thing bequeathed belonged to the legatee or devisee at the time of the execution of the will, the legacy or devise shall be without effect, even though it may have subsequently alienated by him.
Civil Code, Article 933 — A Thing the Legatee Later Sells. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the legatee or devisee acquires it gratuitously after such time, he can claim nothing by virtue of the legacy or devise; but if it has been acquired by onerous title he can demand reimbursement from the heir or the estate.
Civil Code, Article 933 — A Thing the Legatee Later Sells. Read the full provision →
Already yours at the time of the will? The gift is void
You cannot be given what is already yours. Article 933 provides that if the thing bequeathed belonged to the legatee or devisee at the time of the execution of the will, the legacy or devise shall be without effect. Because you already owned the property when the testator signed the will, there was nothing for him to give you — the gift is empty from the start. The article adds that this holds even though it may have subsequently alienated by him: if you later sold or gave away the thing, the legacy still does not spring back to life. Its fate was sealed at the moment the will was made.
If you acquired it for free after the will
The article then deals with a thing you did not own when the will was made but acquired afterward. If you got it gratuitously — as a gift or by donation — after the will's execution, he can claim nothing by virtue of the legacy or devise. The reasoning is that you already received the thing for nothing, so the legacy would hand you a second free benefit for the same object. The law refuses to let you collect twice, and the testamentary gift yields no separate claim on top of the free acquisition you already enjoyed.
If you bought it for value after the will
The outcome changes if you paid for the thing. Where you acquired it by onerous title — that is, you bought it or gave value for it after the will was executed — Article 933 lets you demand reimbursement from the heir or the estate. You do not get the thing again, since you already own it, but you can recover what it cost you, because the testator meant you to have the property without spending your own money for it. So the money you laid out to acquire it is what the estate must pay back, rather than delivering the object itself.
Timing is everything here
The whole article turns on when you owned the thing and how you came to own it. Owned it already when the will was signed: the legacy is void outright. Received it free afterward: you claim nothing. Bought it for value afterward: you claim reimbursement of your cost. These distinctions decide whether you walk away with money or with nothing. Where facts are murky — when exactly you acquired the property, and whether you paid for it — that is precisely what determines your rights, so those details are worth pinning down carefully.