Inheritance law in Brazil

This is a very technical legal question that depends on a number of factors which have not been stated here. Really it is only something that a lawyer who is experienced at succession law in Brazil can deal with. Even a lawyer will have difficulty giving you a "percentage" since a judge may base his decision on a number of factors.

If you require a list lawyers in a specific city you should check the website for the Ordem de Advogados do Brasil in the state where the deceased person(s) resided.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Are you sure that this is a difficult queston? For many countries (e.g. Germany) I could tell you who gets which percentage, since there is a law that exactly states this.

Since Brazil has a law for every single peanut Situation there must be something like this. No?

Knut34,

Obviously you're completely unaware of the judicial system here in Brazil. If you won't accept the opinion of someone who has lived in this country for over 12 years, dealt with various legal situations both civil and criminal in helping our members then what more can I say?

While civil law here does set out "guidelines" regarding the division of assets of deceased persons they are just that - guidelines. The ultimate word lies with the judge. Many different factors come into play here and judges have the autonomy to make decisions that override certain laws.

At any rate, this is NOT a question that you're going to get answered by laypeople here on the Brazil Forum. You will only get guesses at best. You need to consult a lawyer in Brazil that is experienced in succession laws and also the tax implications surrounding inheritance.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Of course I accept opinions. this is why I asked. But I would at least like to get an idea before I run to a lawyer/judge etc.

These guidelines must have a name and should be publically acessible, no? To read them would be a start for me.

Yes, they're called the "Código Civil" and unless you're fluent in Portuguese they're going to be of little use to you. Even if you are, you don't know any of the Brazilian juris prudence that effects these laws.

Sorry, but I must ask this and I know it's going to offend your sensibilities.... Would you ask the advice of a layperson on how to treat a very specific and serious illness you have, or would you go to a doctor? Aren't you doing exactly that here?????

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

If you've ever heard the old English language saying... "A person who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client." really applies here in Brazil, in spades!!!!

wjwoodward wrote:

Sorry, but I must ask this and I know it's going to offend your sensibilities.... Would you ask the advice of a layperson on how to treat a very specific and serious illness you have, or would you go to a doctor? Aren't you doing exactly that here?????

First,it is difficult to offend me. I am German.

Second, there might be people on this blog who had the sameŽ/similar situation so they know more than I do and that would help me already.Or there might even be lawyers on this blog.

So in case I do not get any further I wasted some time, but at least I tried and I can look elsewhere.

As far as I'm aware, in my capacity as the Brazilian rep for Expat-blog, there's only one of our members who is a lawyer practicing here in Brazil and he's not frequently online here.

Regarding getting information about your situation, while you might get very generic information from other members, your particular is VERY SPECIFIC and have various complicating factors such as number of people involved, their degree of relationship with the deceased, the length of time that has passed since the persons passed away and any possible disposition of assets that may have already taken place.

As I said, laws here in Brazil are very complex, there are also some serious tax implications involved and anecdotal information from other members won't be of much help to you in this particular case. Despite your distrust of lawyers a wise man always knows when a situation requires the expertise of a lawyer. The absurd bureaucracy in this country means that there are precious few things related to law that a person can do for themselves, like it or not that's just the way it is here.

Good luck to you.

It depends, there is not enough info in the question.

1) what property regime does apply to the marriage.
2) what did each have before they married
3) what was acquired after they married

As a general rule:
When the wife dies, the man owns 50% of what was obtained as common property, and inherits his share of what belonged only to the wife.

When the man dies, his siblings inherit everything and the kids of the sisters that died inherit the share that would have gone to the sisters.

"When the man dies, his siblings inherit everything and the kids of the sisters that died inherit the share that would have gone to the sisters."

Thank you. This is exactly what I expected as it is like this in many other countries.

So stepchildren get nothing from the stepfather, if their biological mother died before the stepfather, correct? They would have gotten something when their biological mother died. (all assumin gthere is no will)

I found some good basic Information in English at the link below. For all who will find this conversation at a later poin in time and are looking for general Information.

http://brazil.angloinfo.com/money/pensi … tance-law/

on taxes:

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAsset … -guide.pdf

Knut34,

Not exactly as you think. Here in Brazil upon death of anyone who has children, the children inherit  half of the person's estate and a surviving spouse the other half. If the children are minors their portion is held in trust.

Here in Brazil it does not matter if the husband adopted the woman's children or not, they legally have a share in the assets acquired during the marriage and may even have a share in any assets held by the man before the marriage that may have appreciated in value as a result of the wife's contributions following marriage. For example a house, which a man owned before the marriage, but extensive renovations took place during the marriage as a result of the wife's contributions (financial or otherwise), the amount of the increase in market value of that house would be considered community property and as such the woman's children would also have a share in that even though the initial market value of the home would clearly belong to the man only.

There is no guarantee that the woman's surviving children actually received anything at the time of their mother's death. This is just one of the many reasons a lawyer is required for such matters since there must be a clear search that there was a division of assets at the time of her death and that this conformed to Brazilian law. Also, if you are a foreign national there are certain laws here that affect the passing of assets to non-Brazilian family members. Only the Brazilian court where the deceased resided and where the assets are located has jurisdiction. You will note from the first article you linked to, that where there is no will left or if it is deemed invalid, ALL of the assets are to be distributed among the "NECESSARY HEIRS", this would include the offspring of the woman. If they did not receive their share of the assets when their mother died, they still have legal claims to the assets now. One would, of necessity, be required to furnish to the courts sufficient proof that these surviving offspring did indeed receive a proper share of that inheritance before these legal claims could be extinguished.

wjwoodward wrote:

There is no guarantee that the woman's surviving children actually received anything at the time of their mother's death. This is just one of the many reasons a lawyer is required for such matters since there must be a clear search that there was a division of assets at the time of her death and that this conformed to Brazilian law.

In this case, there must be a probate for the wife, the husband an his two sisters that passed away.

Now, if the first death occurred 20 years ago, ITCMD incidence is also 20 years ago, with juros e multa, that might actually be more than the amount that's left.

Bang on the mark Sven!!!

No as I said in the other thread. This is not the case of the bank account that has been sittin gthere for 20 years.

This case here the husband died a few months ago. His wife maybe 2 years ago. the biological children of the wife are alive. The husband never had biological children. the husband has one living brother and the other siblings of the (dead) husband are dead but have several live children.

We understand that Knut, the information that we were giving you is that whether they are his children or not, there must be proof of probate of the estate at the time of the mother's death that those children received the share of the estate that THEY were legally entitled to as "NECESSARY HEIRS" under Brazilian law, which is to say half of what belonged legally to their mother including her portion of the matrimonial home and all other assets that were acquired during the marriage. If there is no proof of that probate then their legal claims ARE NOT extinguished by any means. They also have full and exclusive legal claim to ALL assets that were their mother's prior to the marriage.

The man, at the time of his wife's death was clearly a "NECESSARY HEIR", but his legal entitlement to the woman's assets (depending on the Regime dos Bens of the marriage) is ONLY one half of that which were acquired during the marriage. The remaining half, by law, passes to her children. That's the law.

If that half did not pass to the children or if there is no legal proof of probate then the surviving children still may claim the full amount, corrected monetarily to today's values. ONLY if there is a will in force or ONLY if there are no surviving "NECESSARY HEIRS" would any of the estate be divided with other relatives of the man. In order for the brother and the surviving children of the already deceased sister to receive anything at all there must be substantial proof of probate of the wife's estate to show that her children received what they were entitled to at that time, thus what was left over would be solely the assets of the man and could pass to the brother and late sister's surviving children. Otherwise it would not, since the true ownership of those assets still is not resolved judicially absent proof that at least half of that doesn't really still belong to the woman's children.

Now do you understand what's being said here? Now do you see the absolute necessity for a lawyer in this case. It's not just as simple as you appear to believe it to be, not by a long shot. This is without any doubt exactly the kind of case that can, and usually does, drag out in the courts for years on end since the ownership of the assets is in doubt and appears to be in dispute.

As much as you would like for there to be a speedy resolution to this matter, it simply is not one that will be resolved quickly. It also is not going to be resolved by you, acting alone and without legal representation here in Brazil. It is also not something that anyone but a judge, much less any layperson giving you anecdotal information about what THEY experienced, is going to resolve either.

You can waste all the time you want here on the blog looking to find somebody that's finally going to tell you something that you quite obviously WANT TO HEAR. That's not going to change a thing. In the end you're going to have to swallow your distrust and retain a lawyer who knows exactly what he's doing, to do anything else is simply that....   A WASTE OF YOUR TIME.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

My wife is a Brazilian ex lawyer. The inheritance without a will is complicated in Brazil. In the USA the husband would receive the assets of the marriage. In Brazil her children would be receiving assets. As the others have said, it is complicated and you really need a lawyer for her estate and the courts would have the say in how the estate would be divided. My wife's father was also a federal judge, so these people on here are giving you good sound advice. YOU NEED A LAWYER.

Hi williams .. Its been long to see you ...
I was getting marry  in brazil .. and you hlped me alot ....
now again i have question .. which is making me so confused. we married in regime of cummion do partial ..  i know what exactly this regime is but my wife says that which all property she has i am the owner of it as per 50% and same mine for her..  she has apartment she says she cannot sale it without my permission or my signatures ...  but regimes says that the property spouse hold before the marriage are theirs  but after the marriage they buy this is 50% shared ...
can you please clear this situation ..

The way that Comunhão Parcial dos Bens works is that ALL the assets each owns BEFORE the marriage remain their sole property, the other spouse has no share. If the apartment was purchased before the marriage it belongs solely to the registered owner, who can do what they please with the property.

ALL assets acquired AFTER the marriage are JOINT assets and each spouse has a 50% share in them. For example if you purchased the apartment after the marriage it is owned equally by both, and cannot be sold without of both spouses.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team