Activités

On 18 March 2016, a new Civil Procedure Code entered into force in Brazil.

The new legislation is a significant innovation in terms of the recognition in Brazil of foreign consensual divorces (divorce procedures taking place outside of Brazil in which the two partners agree on all the relative aspects of the end of their marriage).

In Switzerland this is the equivalent of a “divorce with complete agreement” on “accessory effects of the divorce”, notably and necessarily the attribution of the conjugal domicile; the arrangement of the custody and visit rights of any children of the couple; the establishment of maintenance payments for the spouse and/or children; the liquidation of the matrimonial property regime and the division of the occupation pension scheme (the second pillar).

In general, for foreign consensual divorces to be recognized in Brazil, all of the foreign legal decisions need to pass through a homologation (exequatur) via the Superior Tribunal de Justiça in Brasilia.

However, the new Civil Procedure Code allows for foreign consensual divorces to bypass this process. Recognition of these judgments in Brazil can be simply done with a notary.

While waiting for the Brazilian National Justice Council to provide a directive to apply this law, the Brazilian Consulate in Geneva will only legalize the Swiss judgments of foreign consensual divorces, as long as these judgments are transcribed by a Brazilian notary. The translation of these judgments must be done in Brazil, by a sworn translator.

Sant’Ana Lima Avocats is fully able to handle this new administrative procedure.