BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Cassio Namur and Roberta Toledo, Tortoro, Madureira & Ragazzi Advogados
civil imprisonment in Brazil. There are also other options to seek to persuade debtors to comply with their obligations, such as the suspension of their driving licence and the retention of the debtor’s passport. International Enforcement The recognition and, therefore, the execution of a foreign judgment in Brazilian is permitted, if it is not incompatible with the national legal system. A foreign decision deliberating on a subject where competence is exclusive to the Brazil - ian judicial authority, such as the definition and distribution of assets located in the national ter - ritory, will not be ratified. Once ratified by the Superior Court of Justice and thus fulfilling the requirements, the foreign judgment has the con - dition of judicially enforceable title and can be fully executed on national soil. 2.8 Media Access and Transparency The Brazilian Constitution provides that the intimacy, private life, honour and image of peo - ple are inviolable, thereby limiting freedom of expression of thought and freedom of the press. The Brazilian Civil Code provides that proceed - ings dealing with marriage, divorce, stable union, filiation, alimony and custody of children and adolescents are processed in accordance with the secrecy of justice. Therefore, the processes that deal with these matters are not public, being accessible only to the parties, their attorneys, the magistrate and members of the public prosecu - tor’s office, and servants of the judicial system. The Secrecy of Justice The secrecy of justice is the right to preserve the privacy of the parties and the process itself, protecting it from possible external interfer - ence. When a case will not necessarily pro -
ceed in the secrecy of justice, the parties may request secrecy and justify it and, depending on the magistrate’s assessment, a decree may be issued. In any case, data protected by the con - stitutional right to privacy must be processed in secrecy of justice. The Code of Ethics for Brazilian journalists pro - hibits the disclosure of information that violates the right to privacy of the citizen, which must mainly be considered with regard to matters dealt with in judicial proceedings that are pro - cessed in secrecy of justice. Anyone who disrespects procedural secrecy may be regarded as committing an unlawful act and be liable for losses and damages. 2.9 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) ADR methods involve conciliation and media - tion, which are carried out privately in this con - text. Experts in finance can assist parties if they wish; however, in Brazil, there are no specific ADR methods for actions involving financial assets. The use of ADR is not mandatory but may be advised by a magistrate. The process can be suspended for the parties to take part in media - tion sessions. In the same way, when dealing with available rights, the parties can use an arbi - tral court – although this is still very rare in Brazil.
3. Child Law 3.1 Choice of Jurisdiction
In order to establish competence to prosecute maintenance actions, Brazilian law considers the domicile or residence of the child. The child’s residence is fixed according to the residence of their guardian. If the child’s domicile is fixed
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