Category: Law and ownership
Usufructo (lifetime use right)
A real right that lets a non-owner use and enjoy property they don't own, while the owner keeps the "bare ownership" (nuda propiedad).
In Paraguay, usufructo is regulated by articles 2235+ of the Civil Code. It splits ownership into two parts: bare ownership (nuda propiedad, kept by the owner) and usufruct (use and enjoyment, transferred to the usufructuario). The holder can live in the property, rent it out, and collect income, but cannot sell or alter its essence. It ends at the holder's death, on the agreed term, or by waiver. Common in succession planning: parents transfer bare ownership to children but keep lifetime usufruct.
Example
A mother transfers bare ownership of her Asunción home to her children but keeps lifetime usufructo. She can keep living there or rent it out and collect rent until her death, at which point the children consolidate full ownership.
Sources
Related terms
Full ownership (dominio pleno)
The most complete form of property ownership: the holder can use, enjoy, and freely dispose of the property without partial-rights carveouts like usufruct or anticresis.
Right of habitation
A strictly personal, indivisible real right that lets a person occupy someone else's home for themselves and their family — but they cannot rent it out or transfer the right.
Public deed (escritura pública)
A formal document authorized by a notary public that records the sale, gift, or transfer of real estate and perfects the transmission of ownership.