Short answer. Once a usufructuary gives the required security, Article 588 of the Civil Code entitles them to all proceeds and benefits from the date they should have started receiving them under the usufruct title — not from the day security is given, but from the original start date.
What the law says
After the security has been given by the usufructuary, he shall have a right to all the proceeds and benefits from the day on which, in accordance with the title constituting the usufruct, he should have commenced to receive them.
Civil Code, Article 588 — Effect of Later Giving Security. Read the full provision →
The retroactive entitlement rule
Article 588 contains a rule that often surprises both usufructuaries and naked owners: once security is finally given, the usufructuary's entitlement to proceeds and benefits is not measured from that day forward. It reaches back to the date on which the usufruct title said the benefits should have begun. If the usufruct was constituted to begin on January 1 but the usufructuary only provided security in March, the benefits owed run from January 1. The delay in giving security does not erase those earlier benefits — it only postpones when the usufructuary can claim them.
Why security is required before benefits flow
A usufructuary — the person who has the right to use and enjoy another's property — is ordinarily required to give security before entering the property and taking its fruits. This protects the naked owner, who retains ownership and has an interest in ensuring the property is properly maintained and eventually returned. Until security is given, the usufructuary's possession and enjoyment may be deferred or managed by the owner. Article 588 addresses what happens to the fruits and proceeds that accumulated during that waiting period: they are not lost to the usufructuary simply because security was delayed.
The title constituting the usufruct controls the start date
The reference point for calculating what is owed is the title constituting the usufruct — the will, deed, or document that created the right in the first place. That title specifies when the usufruct begins and, by extension, from when the benefits should have been received. Article 588 ties the retroactive entitlement to that date, not to any later event. If the title says the usufruct commenced on a particular date, that is the starting point for computing the accumulated proceeds the usufructuary can claim once security is in place.
Practical implications for disputes between usufructuary and naked owner
This rule has concrete consequences when a usufructuary is slow to give security and the naked owner has been collecting the fruits in the meantime. Once security is provided, the usufructuary can demand an accounting and turn over of the proceeds going back to the original start date of the usufruct. The naked owner cannot keep those proceeds as compensation for the delay in security — they belong to the usufructuary. If you are in a dispute about who is entitled to rents, crops, or other benefits during the period before security was given, Article 588 is the governing provision and its retroactive rule is clear.