Divorce

Attention:

This service is not responsibility of the Brazilian consular offices.

Therefore, it cannot be carried out at the Embassies of Brazil.

This page contains information on how to forward your request directly to the competent Brazilian Authority.

Every Brazilian citizen, resident in Brazil or abroad, has rights and duties and, as such, must communicate certain acts of his civil life to the Brazilian authorities.

One of these facts that must be properly informed is divorce.

Attention:

Under Brazilian law, it is mandatory to register or homologate the foreign divorce judgment in Brazil.

Even if the marriage registration has not been carried out at the Consular Section in Helsinki, you must still register / ratify your divorce in Brazil, since, even without registration, the marriage is valid in Brazil.

Thus, the registration of a subsequent marriage requires, mandatorily, the presentation of the homologated sentence in Brazil.

The guidelines are available for consultation in Provision nº 53 of the National Justice Council (CNJ).

When a divorce is carried out abroad, the competent authority issues a document – ​​commonly called a divorce sentence  – ​​in which it informs that the marriage has ended.

However, this document has no value in Brazil and, consequently, does not produce legal effects, simply because the Brazilian authorities are not aware of the existence of the sentence.

In order for this sentence to take effect in Brazil, it must be reported to the Brazilian authorities.

By Brazilian law, there are currently two ways to do this:

1 - If the divorce was consensual (that is, if the citizen and his/her ex-spouse were in agreement with the divorce and it went without problems) and without property sharing or definition of custody of minor children or alimony (called in Brazil “divórcio puro e simples”):

You can register a divorce directly at the Brazilian Civil Registry Offices (Cartório), under the terms of Provision No. 53 of the National Council of Justice (CNJ).

After the registration is done, the registry office will issue you a Brazilian divorce certificate or they will issue a new marriage certificate with your divorce noted on it.

Note: All foreign documents requested by the notary in Brazil must be apostilled by Maistraatti and translated by a sworn translator in Brazil.

Attention:

In case of marriage celebrated abroad whose consular certificate has not been yet transcribed in a Civil Registry Office in Brazil (Cartório), the transcription must be arranged (in Brazil).

It is advisable to request to Maistraatti, in Finland, an Extract from Population, in English, showing the name adopted after the divorce. The extract must be apostilled at Maistraatti and translated, in Brazil, by a sworn translator.

 It is also advisable to ask the Finnish Court for a declaration, in English, for the purpose of registering the divorce abroad, that there are no more possible appeals for this decision (which proves, for the Brazilian authorities, that the Finnish decision has become final). This declaration must be apostilled in Maistraatti and translated, in Brazil, by a sworn translator.

Direct registration in a Brazilian notary (Cartório) does not require the assistance of a lawyer or public defender.

NOTE: Always check with the Brazilian Registry Notary (Cartório) where the "pure or simple divorce” (divórcio puro e simples) registration will be made for the relevant instructions.

2 - If the divorce was not consensual (i.e., the citizen and his/her ex-spouse were not in agreement with all the points of their divorce) and/or had to share property and/or custody of minor children or alimony has been defined:

The homologation of the divorce sentence must be made at the Superior Court of Justice – STJ, in Brazil.

The homologation is the recognition made by the Brazilian Court of the sentence issued abroad.

In order to apply for homologation, the interested party must appoint a lawyer qualified in Brazil and contact him/her to obtain guidance on the necessary documents.

In general, the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice - STJ requests:

a) original of the foreign divorce sentence (in full), in English, and all annexes (if any), duly apostilled in Maistraatti and translated in Brazil by a sworn translator.

If the document is not issued in English, check with your lawyer in Brazil about the possibility of carrying out an official translation from Finnish to Portuguese in Finland.

b) original of the consular marriage certificate (issued by the Embassy in Helsinki), or the original of the foreign marriage certificate (for the foreign certificate, it is necessary to request an apostille at Maistraatti and later, provide a sworn translation in Brazil).

If the foreign certificate is not issued in English, check with your lawyer in Brazil about the possibility of carrying out an official translation from Finnish to Portuguese in Finland.

c) power of attorney by public instrument (Procuração Pública) in favor of a lawyer (this service can be performed by the Embassy); and

d) Advisable to speed up the process: a declaration stating the agreement with the homologation of the divorce in Brazil, given by the ex-spouse, preferably in Portuguese, and with a notarized signature (Maistraatti), duly apostilled (also in Maistraatti).

Note: There is no standardized template for this declaration. By way of example, it is suggested that the declaration be dated, signed and have the signature recognized in Maistraatti. (Bilingual example available here).

Remember: All foreign documents must be apostilled and translated by a sworn translator in Brazil.

If the document cannot be issued in English, check with your lawyer in Brazil about the possibility of carrying out an official translation from Finnish to Portuguese in Finland.

When the approval of the divorce at the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice - STJ is completed, it must be registered at a Brazilian Civil Registry Office (Cartório de Registro Civil), which will then issue a Brazilian divorce certificate or else issue a new marriage certificate with the divorce recorded (annotated) on it.

Important:

The marriage between a divorced foreigner and a single Brazilian, carried out in Finland may be registered at the Consular Section without the need to present a document approving the divorce sentence in Brazil, unless the foreigner has divorced from a Brazilian citizen. In this case, the homologation of the divorce in Brazil is mandatory.

It is not possible to issue a passport with the name modified by the last marriage without the homologation of the divorce in Brazil and the registration of the last marriage (at the Consulate or in Brazil).

Note: All foreign documents must be apostilled by the Notary Public of the jurisdiction (Maistraatti) where the acts originated. Documents written in a foreign language must later be translated in Brazil by a sworn public translator.

Once the foreign divorce judgment is homologated, the divorce must be registered at the Brazilian registry office (Cartório) where the marriage was originally registered.

If a marriage has not been registered in a Brazilian registry office (Cartório), the aforementioned registration and the registration of the divorce may be carried out concomitantly.

From this registration, the Brazilian registry will issue a marriage certificate in which the divorce registration will appear.

Additional Information:

Website: http://www.stj.gov.br/

FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN HOMOLOGATION OF A FOREIGN DIVORCE SENTENCE IN BRAZIL

Brazilians who are resident abroad who do not have the resources to pay the procedural costs and lawyer’s fees to promote the homologation of their divorce judgments in Brazil can submit an application to the Public Defender's Office of the Union (Defensoria Pública da União) requesting free legal assistance. The application must be forwarded directly to the Chief Public Defender of the Union in Brasília-DF, at the following address:

In the application, the citizen must be duly identified (full name, profession, parents' name, date and place of birth, passport number and CPF), include his/her residential address and contact email, and declare that he/she does not have the financial conditions to pay the procedural costs and other expenses inherent to the process and for the payment of lawyer’s fees without prejudice to their own support and that of their families, under the terms of Law No. 1.060/50.

The application must be signed, contain information about the monthly income and be accompanied by a copy of the passport and CPF. If possible, it should also be accompanied by proof of income issued by the employer. All documentation, including a copy of the foreign sentence, must be apostilled by Maistraatti.

Documentation written in a foreign language must also be accompanied by a note written in Portuguese to identify it, facilitating the work of the Defender. However, the expenses for the official translation of documents will be paid for by the Brazilian Justice.

The granting of this benefit does not depend on the Consular Section or the Embassies, but exclusively on the analysis of the Public Defender's Office of the Union and the competent Judge.

Additional information can be found in the Legal Guidance Booklet for Brazilians Abroad.

NOTE: According to item "f" of art. 5 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, this consular office will not be authorized to conclude consensual separation and/or divorce, as provided for in Law No. 12,874 of October 29, 2013.

However, based on the provisions of Law No. 11,441, of January 4, 2007, regulated by Resolution No. 35/2007, of the National Council of Justice, there is no impediment to interested parties who are qualified to carry out the separation or divorce consensual, do so, by proxy (Power of Attorney - "Procuração"), in a Brazilian Notary's Office (Cartório), without having to travel to Brazil. Instructions on how to request a Power of Attorney are available on "Power of Attorney". 

Information on the terms (text) of the power of attorney and the procedures for separation/divorce must be obtained from the Notary (Cartório) and the lawyer chosen by the parties.

Brazilians who have already been divorced based on foreign legislation, will not be able to avail themselves of a new Brazilian administrative or judicial divorce. In such cases, there will be a need for the respective administrative decision/sentence to be duly homologated by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).