After the legal portion has been fixed in accordance with the two foregoing sections, the reduction shall be made as follows:
(1) Gifts shall be respected insofar as the legal portion can be covered, reducing or annulling, if necessary, the legacies made in the will.
(2) The reductions of the latter shall be made pro rata, without any distinction whatsoever.
If the testator has ordered that a certain legacy be paid in preference to others, the former shall not suffer any reduction, until after the latter have been applied in full to the payment of the legal portion.
(3) If the legacy consists of a usufruct or life annuity, the value of which may be considered greater than that of the portion which can be disposed of, the heirs by force of law may choose between complying with the testamentary provisions or delivering to the legatee the part of the inheritance of which the testator could freely dispose.
History —Civil Code, 1930, § 748.