Short answer. Fruits growing when the usufruct begins belong to the usufructuary. Fruits growing when it ends belong to the owner. The usufructuary owes nothing for the first set, but the owner must reimburse him, out of the proceeds of the standing fruits, for the ordinary costs of cultivation and seed.
What the law says
Natural or industrial fruits growing at the time the usufruct begins, belong to the usufructuary. Those growing at the time the usufruct terminates, belong to the owner.
Civil Code, Article 567 — Growing Fruits at the Start and End. Read the full provision →
A clean rule at both ends
A usufruct lets one person enjoy property that belongs to another — commonly a widow given the use of land for life, or a child given the income of a farm for a term of years. The awkward moments are the start and the finish, when a crop is halfway grown and it is not obvious who paid for it and who should reap it.
Article 567 of the Civil Code cuts through this. It does not apportion the harvest by days or by how much growth happened under each holder. Whoever is entitled at the moment the crop is standing takes it whole. Standing at the start goes to the usufructuary; standing at the end goes to the owner.
The expenses are not treated symmetrically
Here the article stops being even-handed, deliberately. At the beginning, the usufructuary takes the growing crop and has no obligation to refund the owner any expenses the owner already incurred in raising it. He gets the harvest free.
At the end, the owner takes the growing crop but must reimburse the usufructuary — and the reimbursement is limited in two ways. It covers the ordinary expenses of cultivation, seed and similar costs, not extraordinary outlays or the usufructuary's own labour valued at large. And it is payable from the proceeds of the growing fruits, so the owner is not made to pay out of his own pocket beyond what the crop yields.
Which fruits the article covers
It speaks of natural and industrial fruits — the spontaneous produce of the land and the young of animals, and the crops raised through cultivation. Rice, sugar, corn, vegetables and fruit trees are the everyday examples.
Civil fruits behave differently. Rent, lease payments and interest are treated as accruing daily, so they are divided by time and not by who holds them when a term ends. If the property under usufruct is an apartment building rather than a farm, this article is not your rule. Check what kind of income the property produces before applying anything here.
Third persons, and how to avoid the fight
The last paragraph is easy to skip and important. The article shall not prejudice the rights of third persons acquired either at the beginning or at the termination of the usufruct. A tenant farmer, a lessee, a buyer who already purchased the standing crop, or a creditor with a security interest keeps whatever rights he validly acquired. Agrarian tenancy rights in particular are governed by their own law and are not swept aside by this provision.
Because these disputes are decided on dates and receipts, the practical answer is documentary. Record the state of the land at the start and the end of the usufruct — dated photographs, an inventory, planting records, and receipts for seed and cultivation. If a usufruct over farmland is ending, have the accounting reviewed by a lawyer before the harvest, not after it is sold.
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.
- Juan De Delos Carlos vs. Felicidad Sandoval, et al, G.R. No. 179922, December 16, 2008 — read the decision on LawPhil →