Text of the provision
Art. 911. After the legitime has been determined in accordance with the three preceding articles, the reduction shall be made as follows:
(1) Donations shall be respected as long as the legitime can be covered, reducing or annulling, if necessary, the devises or legacies made in the will;
(2) The reduction of the devises or legacies shall be pro rata, without any distinction whatever. If the testator has directed that a certain devise or legacy be paid in preference to others, it shall not suffer any reduction until the latter have been applied in full to the payment of the legitime.
(3) If the devise or legacy consists of a usufruct or life annuity, whose value may be considered greater than that of the disposable portion, the compulsory heirs may choose between complying with the testamentary provision and delivering to the devisee or legatee the part of the inheritance of which the testator could freely dispose.
(820a)
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
Once the legitime is fixed, donations are respected so long as the legitime can be covered, reducing or annulling the devises or legacies in the will if necessary. Reduction of devises and legacies is pro rata without distinction, except that one the testator directed to be paid in preference suffers no reduction until the others are exhausted; and where the devise or legacy is a usufruct or life annuity worth more than the disposable portion, the compulsory heirs may choose between complying with the will or delivering the freely disposable part.
Questions about this provision
- If the estate cannot cover our legitimes, which is cut down first — my father's lifetime donations or the legacies in his will?
- My father's will says one legacy must be paid ahead of the others — is that legacy still reduced to cover the legitimes?
- The will gives someone a lifetime usufruct worth more than the free portion — what can the compulsory heirs do about it?
Related provisions
- Article 909 — Charging Donations To Shares.
- Article 912 — Reduction Of Indivisible Realty.
Cases citing this article
- Ricky Q. Quilala vs. Gliceria Alcantara, et al, G.R. No. 132681, December 3, 2001 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Compiled automatically from Supreme Court decisions published on LawPhil that expressly cite this article, most frequently cited first. A listing means the decision cites the provision — it is not a statement that the case is the leading authority, and it does not show whether a ruling has since been modified or abandoned. Always read the decision itself.