How to recognize a divorce in Brazil

“I already got a divorce from my brazilian wife in my country, now she called me saying that we must get divorced again in Brazil. What should I do?”

This is a very common problem in Brazil. According to the brazilian laws, it is mandatory for all brazilians who got divorced abroad to ratify this divorce at the brazilian courts. If this is not carried out the individual will, for all legal purposes, remain married. Often I receive this kind of question from my clients or from my clients former spouses, asking why they should get divorced twice. However, it is important to realize that without this procedure in Brazil, the divorce will not be recognized.

In Brazil, the divorce must be ratified by the Superior Court of Justice - not to be confused with the Supreme Federal Court, the highest court of the country.

UPDATE FROM 2017: Simple divorces, where there are no children and no special partition of assets, now can be reigistered directly in a local cartório (public notary office), skipping the lawsuit.

The documents required for this process are:

1) power of attorney to represent the client in the divorce ratification process;

2) original foreign divorce decree, duly certified by a public notary in the country of origin AND in the Brazilian consulate;

3) translation of the foreign divorce decree to brazilian portuguese;

4) certified copy of marriage registration in Brazil (if any);

5) former spouse's address for the formal judicial notice;

6) if possible, power of attorney granted by former spouse, with powers to accept the recognition of the divorce in Brazil, duly certified by a public notary in the country of origin AND in the Brazilian consulate;;

7) certified copy of your identity card or passport.

The entire process before the Superior Court of Justice generally takes about 01 year. With the acceptance of both spouses, the powers of attorney of both and the declaration of acceptance of  divorce ratification, the time may be reduced.

I have been working in this type of procedure for quite some time. If you have any questions, just send me an email or a comment here on this blog!

See also:

- HOW TO: Getting Married in Brazil

- When marriage ends what happens to the foreigner's permanent visa in Brazil?

HOW TO: Getting Married in Brazil.

This is a guest post from Mr. Nuno, my intern, who publishes Brazil Business 101.

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Hello everybody, here is something that a lot of people have been asking me, you a good looking “gringo”, find a good looking Brazilian, you fall in love, then you decide to get married here, now, WHAT TO DO?.. Here is the procedure you’ll need to take. (the entire procedure will be covered in 4 posts)  

*Little observation, every Cartório (notary) has it's own procedure, this are the minnimum requirements, it may alter from city to city or from cartório to cartório.

First of all you need to get all you documents and get everything registered and ready to be used in your marriage.

 Documents required for registration 

• Original Birth Certificate of the groom or bride – (Authenticated* / consularized in the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in the country of origin of the betrothed). This procedure will not be done in the ministry of international relations of Brazil or in an embassy in Brazil so do this in your county.

• Certificate of marital status of the groom or bride, (Authenticated*  /  consularized in the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in the country of origin of the betrothed). This procedure will not be done in the ministry of international relations of Brazil or in an embassy in Brazil so do this in your county.

• Certified copy of passport (main pages, and by that I mean, everyone that has something written on).

• Two witnesses on the day of  the marriage, with at least 18 years of age, known to the couple and that can provided with identity and CPF (Brazilian “Social Security Number”), they can be relatives, but cannot possess a proxy of any of the spouses (if the marriage is taken place outside the notary, you’ll need four witnesses);

• If your wedding is by PROXY, the proxy should be recorded in the notary or Brazilian consulate in the country of origin of the betrothed. This procedure will not be done in the ministry of international relations of Brazil or in an embassy in Brazil so do this in your county.

The proxy must contain:

• Name that the bride will use after the wedding. Note: you can only add a name, never delete one.

• Name the groom will use after the wedding. Note: Same as the above.

• Specify in the proxy if the spouse will be present on the day of the wedding.

• Not being present, you must specify that the prosecutor shall have full powers to represent the betrothed before the Judge of Peace (the person who conducts the marriage) in the wedding.

• Specify the property regime to be adopted, i.e Universal Communion of Assets, Full Separation of Assets (we will cover this in another post.). In the regimes of Universal Communion, Separation and Participation in Final Aqüestos  is mandatory to present a prenuptial agreement, drawn up in the Registry of Notes.

Note: The documents of the first two items above must be translated by a sworn public translator in Brazil, then you must authenticate (also to be covered in another post) the translator’s signature on a Notary, after this procedure you must record the translated documents in the Registry of Deeds and Documents.

For a divorced person.

• You must have your divorce sentence or similar, approved by STJ (Superior Court) and attached to all the documents above.

This was part 1, more to come.

Xerox, Authenticated Copies, I need caipirinha, please.

Here is another guest post by Ms. Gringa da Silva.

It is funny, but also carries a lot of truth and street smart advice.

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Hello my pretties,

How was your first week in Brazil? Did you miss me? Have you clogged a toilet yet? (You know, that little basket beside the toilet is not a hint, it is a strongly worded suggestion, sort of like those letters the UN writes to the naughty countries? So put your paper in the basket and live a happy and clog free life. Gringa has clogged toilets twice so far.. but who's counting?)

Getting over jet-lag and dealing with trying to cross the road in a major city in Brazil can be trying enough, but chances are that if you are here for business or some official reason, versus simply backpacking (we will get to teaching English as a scruffy, unwashed foreign student taking a gap-year later) you are going to have to start dealing with the various steps needed to do that official business stuff here.

All of the steps will include bureaucracy.

In Brazil, the Religion may be football, but The King is paperwork and absolutely all of it has to be done correctly, lest you are looking to hear: Falta! (we covered this word last week, my dears.. do try to keep up)

Enter, Authenticated Copies. (drum roll please)

This does not mean that you go to some random photo copier and sit on it and take that obligatory copy of your authentic and real-life derriere (your mother is so proud whenever you do that) this means that you need to find a Cartório, and deal with bored bureaucrats to whom you are not allowed to be rude. (Example of how to behave in a bureaucratic location in Brazil: http://youtu.be/2NKY_-u6AmA?t=58s)

I can hear you asking: But why would I be rude, I am a polite person! My mother taught me not to burp in public and to wash behind my ears!

Just you wait, my pretty. We are still very low on the caipirinha scale...

An Authenticated Copy, means that you will get a copy of whatever document you need copied certified as an Authentic Copy. Clear as mud, yes? Bring cash, your patience and be prepared to be annoyed and confused.

You will enter the Cartório, need to find the correct Senha from the relevant machine or person (a number that will allocate your position in the line - remembering of course that no one who works in these locations speaks English) and have to sit on 'comfy chairs' (http://youtu.be/XnS49c9KZw8?t=1m26s) and have to pay attention while you wait for the word, Próximo (next) to be called out in a low voice, indistinctly over lots of background noise.

Alternately, it is possible that your specific number will be displayed along with a noise that is about as soothing as fingernails on a blackboard on some LED panel somewhere that will point you to a specific bureaucrat to go to.. assuming of course that the bureaucrats are numbered, biensûr.

No one will be clear about what you need to do next.

It is good to remember that using cell phones is not allowed in these locations and the bureaucrat won't speak to anyone on the phone anyway, so don't bother calling for help.

Basically, you need to hand over your document(s) and you will be handed a number, which will then be called out later after which you will pick up your documents, the Authenticated Copies and will be required to pay in cash for the service.

The copies can cost a fair deal of money, especially if you have many to do, but it will vary by location. Make sure you have enough small bills and large bills to pay the fees.

These places are not reliable enough to leave your documents at while you run to get cash and they will not return either the originals or the copies until you have paid.

Tips:

If you don't know what to ask for, have a Brazilian write it down.

Bring enough cash.

Expect large lines, inefficient and/ or confusing service and short and nasty opening hours and to have your time wasted.

Exactly no one cares who you are or what you want or if you are in a hurry; they only care that you do not inconvenience them and don't bother them.

Don't be rude. It is an offence punishable by arrest without bail.

Be pragmatic. There is no escaping this procedure if it is required. Brazilians live this stuff every day. You as a foreigner are just starting to put up with it. Deal with it.

Seriously...

On the caipirinha scale, this experience only rates a 1, my dears. Well, perhaps a 1.5 in which case you might as well upgrade to a full 2. With caipirinha, you always upgrade!

Until next week, yours in the spirit of cachaça,

Ms. Gringa da Silva

All rights reserved © 2012 by Ms. Gringa da Silva (http://msgringadasilva.orgfree.com/)

When marriage ends what happens to the foreigner's permanent visa in Brazil?

I have been following this interesting discussion at the Gringoes forum, an internet debate place for foreigners who live or want to know more about Brazil. You may check it at:

http://www.gringoes.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13882&PN=2

Here is my answer to the question posted  by one of the members

"Hello,

I have been following this discussion with interest, because the issue is controversial even among lawyers.

In my opinion, Dunga's comments are closer to reality.

Fact is, no  Visa is permanent. They are just called Permanent, but they could be called "Long term" as well. For instance: permanent visa due to investment may be revoked if the investment is repatriated.

Also, there are sovereignty aspects to the granting of visas.

In legal terms: any visa is subject to the special conditions that may be required by the National Immigration Council.

In this sense:

Estatuto do estrangeiro:

Art. 17. Para obter visto permanente o estrangeiro deverá satisfazer, além dos requisitos referidos no artigo 5º, as exigências de caráter especial previstas nas normas de seleção de imigrantes estabelecidas pelo Conselho Nacional de Imigração.

On the other hand, current visa owners could say that their Visa is already an "ato jurídico perfeito", or acquired right, that could not be revoked due to future regulations.

In practice, when it wants to, Government will just issue and enforce  new regulations in spite of the "ato jurídico perfeito". Conflicts are solved in court.

So, in conclusion:

Getting divorced does not imply immediate loss of the Permanent Visa.

But,

The government may, at any time, create regulations that restrict the rights of current visa owners. For example, demanding proof of marriage to be presented every year, subject to Visa cancellation. (note that this is hypothetical. Such rule does not exist, at least yet).

This would create a juridical problem that might result in the Visa cancellation, subject to an administrative (and maybe judicial) procedure where the foreigner's conduct and adherence to any regulations would be evaluated.

However, in spite of the visa cancellation being a theoretical possibility, truth is it is not common."