Lucênia de Cássia Oliveira de Alcântara Carvalho

1. Recognition of foreign judgements in Brazil (STJ)
2. Contract law
3. Family law (divorce, maintenance claims, maintenance modification actions)
4. Adoptions, inheritance law (counselling and representation in German-Brazilian inheritance cases, legal advice in identifying heirs in Brazil)
5. Buying property,
6. Brazilian labour law
7. Acquisition of Brazilian citizenship
8. Immigration law
9. Administrative law (energy law and advice to foreign companies in the field of renewable energies in Brazil, recognition of foreign university degrees and academic titles in Brazil)

Civil law, property law, inheritance law, family law, labour law, insolvency law, commercial law, criminal law, contract law, law of obligations, administrative law, civil procedure law, administrative procedure law

Decree-Law No. 76-A of 29 March 2006 grants Portuguese lawyers important notarial powers. Lawyers admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association are authorised to carry out the following notarial acts:

1. notarisation of signatures
2. notarisation of documents
3. preparation and notarisation of translations
4. certification of the conformity of the copy with the original document

These notarial acts are of the utmost importance for the preparation of powers of attorney and notarisation of contracts (except for powers of attorney and contracts that must be executed by a notary). With these notarial services, our law firm provides important assistance for Portuguese citizens in Germany, as documents and signatures notarised by us can be used immediately and without further formalities in Portugal.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES IN GERMANY | ASSISTANCE IN CONSULAR MATTERS | IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A SWORN TRANSLATOR FOR THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE | EXTRAJUDICIAL REPRESENTATION OF INTERESTS

Consular bureaucracy is not always transparent for German companies. Not only the Portuguese language, but also the many required documents and long waiting times that usually accompany consular processing are a hurdle.

We work closely with our local partners to obtain visas for companies sending employees to Brazil. If your company wants to regulate the legal situation of its employees and their dependants in Brazil and does not want to deal with the relevant forms, relevant laws and lengthy procedures itself, we will be happy to apply for a residence permit, visa extension or work permit for you. We have links with other law firms in Brasília who will liaise directly with the relevant authorities to ensure that your case is dealt with quickly and smoothly.

The crisis in the EU is increasingly affecting the labour market in southern European countries such as Spain and Portugal. Qualified young Spaniards and Portuguese in particular are now discovering career opportunities in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria despite language difficulties. Former colonies such as Angola, Brazil and other Latin American countries are also interesting destinations. We support specialists from Portugal and Spain with the recognition of academic degrees and titles in Brazil. We help with the conclusion of academic co-operation agreements between universities.

European immigrants in Brazil need the advice and assistance of Brazilian and Portuguese administrative and academic lawyers to guide them on their professional path in this economically emerging country. Our law firm also offers this service. Please feel free to contact us and make an appointment for legal advice.

If a Brazilian citizen marries and divorces abroad, the divorce from a foreign legal system is not automatically recognised in Brazil. This requires the divorce to be recognised in Brazil, and this procedure is known as “homologação” of the foreign judgment. Many Brazilian citizens living abroad do not pay attention to the need to have the foreign divorce recognised in Brazil until they need a new Brazilian passport because the current one has expired.

The Brazilian consular authority will only issue a new passport if the foreign divorce has been recognised in Brazil and the Brazilian citizen’s identity document abroad is their Brazilian passport and not their document containing the residence permit in the country of residence.

If a Brazilian citizen divorced abroad remarries abroad and takes the new spouse’s surname, the Brazilian consular authority will not issue a new passport with the new spouse’s surname without the previous divorce having been recognised in Brazil. Incidentally, a marriage contracted abroad is valid regardless of whether it has been registered at a consulate or not. A Brazilian citizen who has remarried abroad is liable to prosecution for bigamy, which is listed in Article 235 of Decree-Law No. 2.848 of 7 December 1940 of the Criminal Code. It is therefore advisable to recognise the foreign divorce in Brazil as soon as the divorce decree is final, even if the marriage contracted abroad was not registered at a consular registry office.

A foreign judgement can be recognised in two ways: firstly, through judicial recognition before the Supreme Court in Brasília. The other is through recognition of the divorce at the registry office of the first office, also in Brasília. The first option is a judicial procedure, which is carried out electronically, can take up to six months and therefore involves higher fees. The second option is a notarial procedure, i.e. a purely administrative procedure that takes a maximum of two weeks and whose costs are limited to the notary fees.

In the case of recognition of a qualified foreign divorce decree, i.e. if the foreign decree is not consensual or, if it is consensual, contains decisions on custody of the children, maintenance, division of assets or retirement, the foreign divorce decree must necessarily be recognised by the STJ, which involves higher costs and takes longer. The following documents are required for this procedure:
1) Marriage certificate. If the marriage has been registered at the relevant consulate, no legalisation is required, as it is a document issued in Brazil by a Brazilian consular authority. If there is no registration, the foreign marriage certificate must be apostilled with the Hague Apostille, a procedure carried out by courts of second instance or administrative authorities, depending on the country of residence of the ex-spouses. This document must be translated by a sworn translator in Brazil.
2) Foreign divorce judgement: The judgement must expressly state the grounds for the divorce and the final and non-appealable decision. It must clearly state whether there was a division of property, maintenance arrangements, minor children or a pension scheme.
3) Power of attorney for legal representation: As this is a legal procedure, a lawyer authorised in Brazil must be appointed and the signature of the person granting the power of attorney must be notarised by a Brazilian consulate, another Brazilian notary’s office or a notary abroad. In the case of a foreign notary’s office, the signature of the principal in the power of attorney must be notarised and bear the Hague Apostille.
4) Declaration of consent: In order to avoid the international summons of the spouse residing abroad, which takes many months due to a request for legal assistance, a declaration of consent from the defendant (ex-spouse) should be attached to the list of documents so that the proceedings can be completed more quickly. All documents issued abroad must have the Hague Apostille in order to be valid in Brazil and must be translated by a sworn translator in Brazil.