Short answer. Yes, as a rule. Article 603 makes the death of the usufructuary a way a usufruct is extinguished, unless a contrary intention clearly appears in the title creating it. The usufruct does not pass to the usufructuary's heirs; the property reverts free of the usufruct to whoever holds the bare ownership.
What the law says
By the death of the usufructuary, unless a contrary intention clearly appears
Civil Code, Article 603 — How Usufruct Is Extinguished. Read the full provision →
Death of the usufructuary ends the usufruct
Article 603 opens its list of ways a usufruct is extinguished with exactly this situation: By the death of the usufructuary, unless a contrary intention clearly appears. A usufruct is a personal right granted to a specific individual to use and enjoy someone else's property. Because it is tied to that person, the default rule is that the right dies with them. When the usufructuary passes away, the burden on the owner's property lifts, and the owner regains full, unencumbered enjoyment of what had been split between the two of them.
The heirs do not inherit the usufruct
Because the usufruct ends at death rather than surviving it, the usufructuary's heirs generally cannot claim to step into the same right over the property. What they may inherit is whatever the usufructuary already earned or was entitled to before death, such as fruits already accrued, but not the ongoing right to use and enjoy the property going forward. That right simply ceases to exist once the person it was granted to is gone, unless the instrument creating the usufruct said something different.
The exception for a clearly expressed contrary intention
The rule is not absolute. If the deed, will, or contract that created the usufruct clearly shows the parties intended it to continue past the usufructuary's death, for instance by naming a period unrelated to that person's lifespan, the usufruct is not automatically cut short. The exception has to be clear from the title itself, though; silence, or an ordinary usufruct granted to a named person without more, is read under the default rule that it ends when that person dies.
Why the law ties the usufruct to the person
Usufruct is meant to be enjoyed personally, and letting it survive indefinitely through generations of heirs would keep the underlying property tied down long after the reason for the arrangement had passed. Ending the usufruct at death lets the property return to full, undivided ownership at a predictable point, rather than remaining split between an owner and a shifting group of successors who were never the intended beneficiaries of the original grant.
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.
- Quezon City Government vs. Manila Seedling Bank Foundation Inc, G.R. No. 208788, July 23, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Juan Perez, et al. vs. Court of Appeals & Luis Crisostomo, et al, G.R. No. 107737, October 1, 1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →