BRAZIL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mauricio Ejchel, MF Ejchel International Family Law
provide mutual assistance without a conjugal bond. These arrangements respond to demographic chang ‑ es such as population ageing, economic interdepend ‑ ence among relatives, and informal caregiving net ‑ works. Legal recognition generates concrete effects in areas such as social security dependency, housing protec ‑ tion, succession planning, and access to employ ‑ ment-related benefits. It replaces improvised judicial solutions with clearer legal criteria, improving certainty and practical application. At the same time, evidence of stable cohabitation and mutual support remains necessary to prevent abusive claims and to ensure that only genuine family units receive legal protection. Multi-parentality is likewise consolidated, allowing co- existence of biological and socio-affective parental bonds. This reflects constitutional jurisprudence that prioritises the best interests of the child and recog ‑ nises the legal relevance of affective ties. Effects extend to civil registration, inheritance rights, support obligations, parental authority, and social security coverage. Operational challenges include co- ordination of decision-making, distribution of respon ‑ sibilities, and resolution of disagreements among multiple parents, particularly in situations marked by conflict. Dejudicialisation of Property Regime Modification The reform advances a clear policy of dejudicialisa ‑ tion, particularly in matters involving consensual fam ‑ ily arrangements. Judicial authorisation is replaced by notarial oversight, shifting control from adjudication to preventative qualification. Notaries assume a central role in verifying capacity, ensuring informed consent, protecting vulnerable par ‑ ties, and safeguarding third-party rights, while judi ‑ cial review remains available in cases involving fraud, coercion or abuse. This change responds directly to long-standing criticism related to delays, cost and unpredictability in consensual family arrangements. By reallocating institutional functions from the courts to qualified extrajudicial actors, the reform seeks to reduce unnecessary litigation while preserving legal
certainty and maintaining effective protection against abuse, imbalance or fraud. Succession Law and the Position of the Surviving Spouse One of the most sensitive and openly debated dimen ‑ sions of the reform concerns succession law and, more specifically, the legal position of the surviving spouse. The proposal limits the scope of automatic statutory inheritance rights and, in so doing, redirects the legal system towards greater testamentary autonomy and a heightened reliance on advance patrimonial planning as an expression of individual choice and responsibil ‑ ity. Protection is therefore not eliminated, but relocated from automatic succession rules to instruments acti ‑ vated during the relationship. This structural adjustment has generated consider ‑ able concern within legal doctrine and practice, as it may directly affect spouses who are economically dependent, particularly widows in long-standing rela ‑ tionships shaped by traditional allocations of profes ‑ sional activity and domestic responsibility. Under the proposed model, protection of the surviv ‑ ing spouse is no longer predominantly guaranteed by succession law through mandatory inheritance rules. Instead, it has become increasingly dependent on family law instruments adopted during the relation ‑ ship, such as compensatory spousal maintenance, marital or partnership agreements, insurance arrange ‑ ments, and other forms of preventative planning. While this approach reinforces personal autonomy and coherence within the legal system, it simultane ‑ ously demands a higher degree of legal awareness and proactive decision-making, raising legitimate con ‑ cerns about vulnerability where such planning has not occurred or where economic imbalance has histori ‑ cally limited access to legal guidance.
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