When a usufruct ends and what happens next

It is Section Four of Chapter I of Title VI of Book Three of the Civil Code of 2020, Articles 910 to 919. It closes the usufruct chapter: how it ends, what happens if the asset is destroyed or expropriated, and what must be returned.

It applies to the usufructuary, the owner and any simultaneous or successive usufructuaries. The usufructuary’s creditors may intervene in the misuse-or-abuse suit, to preserve their rights, offer repair of the damage and give prospective bond.

• For extinction by misuse or abuse, that the usufructuary cause damage, allow the thing to depreciate or in any way endanger the owner’s rights.Verified against the official source
• For a court to decree extinction by misuse, that it weigh the seriousness of the circumstances.Verified against the official source
• To receive the whole insurance price, that the usufructuary insured alone after the owner refused to contribute, and with the duty to invest it in rebuilding.Verified against the official source
• At the end, returning the thing to the owner, save what is provided for consumable things and the right of retention where it may be invoked.Verified against the official source

• The constituting title, because the term and resolutory condition it fixes are two of the eleven causes of extinction.
• The insurance policy, because Article 915 shares out the loss payment according to who contributed to taking it out.

1. 1

   Step 1: The eleven causes

   Article 910 enumerates them: the usufructuary’s death; fulfilment of the term or of the resolutory condition set in the constituting title; consolidation of usufructuary and owner in one person; the usufructuary’s renunciation, subject to what is provided in favour of third parties’ rights; total loss of the thing; resolution of the constituent’s right; failure to comply with conditions imposed or freely agreed; the specific causes of extinction for usufructs ordered by law; expropriation of the thing; misuse or abuse of the thing; and usucapión.

2. 2

   Step 2: If the thing is lost only in part

   Article 911 settles it in one line: if the thing held in usufruct is destroyed or lost only in part, the right continues on the remaining part. The extinction cause in Article 910 requires total loss.

3. 3

   Step 3: The terms that run on their own

   Article 912 sets two endings for entities: a usufruct in favour of a juridical person ends when the entity ceases to exist or on the lapse of thirty years from the start of the usufruct, except where the law allows a longer term. And Article 913 settles a usufruct granted until a third party reaches a certain age: it lasts the prefixed years even if that third party dies before that age, except where it was granted in consideration of that person’s existence.

4. 4

   Step 4: If the building perishes

   Article 914 distinguishes two cases. If the usufruct was over land of which a building forms part and the building perishes, in whatever manner, the usufructuary is entitled to enjoy the soil and the materials. And if the usufruct was only over the building and it perishes, the same rule applies, but if the owner wants to build another they may occupy the soil and use the materials, being bound to pay the usufructuary, for as long as the usufruct lasts, the interest on the sums corresponding to the value of the soil and of the materials.

5. 5

   Step 5: The insurance depends on who paid for it

   Article 915 has three scenarios. If the usufructuary joins the owner in insuring the property, they continue enjoying the new building if it is built, or receive the interest on the insurance price if rebuilding does not suit the owner. If the owner refused to contribute and the usufructuary took out the insurance alone, the usufructuary acquires the right to receive the whole insurance price, but with the duty to invest it in rebuilding the property, after deducting the premium paid and the expenses of the loss and of collection. And if it was the usufructuary who refused, the owner receives the whole price, always saving the right under the preceding article.

6. 6

   Step 6: If the asset is expropriated

   Article 916 is brief and clear: if the thing held in usufruct is expropriated for public utility, the usufruct is extinguished and the indemnity is shared in proportion to the interests of usufructuary and owner. How those interests are appraised is not stated in this section.

7. 7

   Step 7: Misuse and abuse: the court has three outcomes

   Article 917 says the usufruct may cease for the usufructuary’s misuse or abuse of the thing, by causing it damage or allowing it to depreciate or in any way endangering the owner’s rights. And it gives the court three outcomes according to the seriousness of the circumstances: it may decree absolute extinction of the usufruct, it may declare the cessation of the right in favour of the simultaneous or successive usufructuary, or it may impose conditions for the usufruct to continue. The usufructuary’s creditors may intervene in the suit to preserve their rights, to offer repair of the damage and to give prospective bond.

8. 8

   Step 8: Several usufructuaries, and the final return

   Article 918 says a life usufruct constituted for several persons ends on the death of the last, and that the right of those who die accrues to the survivors in proportion to their share, unless otherwise provided. And Article 919 closes the chapter: at the end of the usufruct, the usufructuary must return the thing to the owner, without prejudice to what is provided for consumable things, and saving the right of retention in the cases where it may be invoked.

Extinction for misuse or abuse is decreed by the Court of First Instance, which under Article 917 weighs the seriousness of the circumstances. The other causes operate by themselves or between the parties.

• Treating the usufruct as extinguished when the thing was lost only in part.
• Believing misuse ends it automatically: a court decides, and it may instead impose conditions.
• Forgetting that the usufructuary’s creditors may intervene in that suit.
• Assuming that if the building burns the usufructuary gets nothing: they are entitled to the soil and the materials.
• Claiming the whole insurance price without having insured alone after the other party refused to contribute.
• Thinking an entity’s usufruct can exceed thirty years with no law allowing it.
• Returning the thing without invoking the right of retention where it applies.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov