Short answer. Seven. The usufructuary's death, expiry of the period or fulfilment of a resolutory condition, merger of the usufruct and ownership in one person, renunciation, total loss of the thing, termination of the right of the person who created it, and prescription.
What the law says
Usufruct is extinguished: (1) By the death of the usufructuary, unless a contrary intention clearly appears; (2) By the expiration of the period for which it was constituted, or by the fulfillment of any resolutory condition provided in the title creating the usufruct; (3) By merger of the usufruct and ownership in the same person; (4) By renunciation of the usufructuary; (5) By the total loss of the thing in usufruct; (6) By the termination of the right of the person constituting the usufruct; (7) By prescription.
Civil Code, Article 603 — How Usufruct Is Extinguished. Read the full provision →
Death is the default, and it is not automatic
A usufruct is built around a particular person's enjoyment, so it ends when that person dies — the heirs inherit his estate but not his usufruct. The qualification matters, though: death ends it unless a contrary intention clearly appears. An instrument can provide otherwise, and where it does, the instrument governs. What the exception demands is clarity. A deed that is silent, or merely ambiguous, resolves in favour of extinction, so anyone intending a usufruct to outlive its first holder has to say so in terms that leave nothing to be argued about later.
The endings the parties themselves choose
Three of the seven are the parties' own doing. A usufruct constituted for a fixed period simply expires when the period runs; one subject to a resolutory condition ends when that condition is fulfilled. Renunciation is the usufructuary giving the right up, which he is free to do because the right is his asset. Merger covers the case where the usufructuary later acquires the naked ownership, or the owner acquires the usufruct: nobody holds a right against himself, so the two interests collapse back into full ownership and the usufruct disappears as a separate thing.
The endings imposed from outside
The remaining three happen whether or not anyone wants them. Total loss of the thing leaves nothing to enjoy — and the word is total, since partial loss leaves the usufruct running over what survives. Termination of the right of the person who constituted it reflects a principle running through property law: a grantor cannot confer more than he holds, so a usufruct given by someone whose own right was limited or defeasible falls when that right falls. Prescription ends the usufruct where it has gone unexercised, or has been held adversely by another, for the period the law fixes.
What has to happen at the end
Extinction is a legal event, not a physical one — the property does not return itself. The usufructuary or his heirs must give it back, and the condition it comes back in is measured against the inventory made at the start, which is why that document earns its keep years after nobody remembers making it. The security given at the outset is released once those obligations are settled. If the property is registered and the usufruct was annotated on the title, the annotation should be cancelled, or the title will keep describing a right that no longer exists.
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 →